
(;iass ,LB i r7a 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



TEACHING CHILDREN 
TO READ 



TEACHING CHILDREN 
TO READ 



PAUL KLAPPER, Ph.D. 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 
COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 




NEW YORK 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 

1914 



\3 1 5 li 



Copyright, 1914, by 
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



OCT -6 1914 



ICI.A379880 






F 



FOREWORD 

The author feels impelled to set forth the purpose and 
the scope of this volume, lest the student of education in 
search of new theories and experimentations in the physi- 
ology and the psychology of reading, be led astray. This 
book is given solely to the task of aiding teachers, who are 
seeking a method that has stood the pragmatic test, and 
that may, therefore, help them in their day's work. The 
author acknowledges his indebtedness to the large number 
of teachers from whose methods of instruction, he has 
gleaned much that is practical in this volume. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER 

I. The Meaning and the Problems of the 
Teaching of Reading .... 

II. Physiology and Hygiene of Reading . 

III. The Psychology of Reading . . . 

IV. Pedagogy of Reading .... 

A. When Shall Reading Be Taught? 

B. Basic Aims in Reading 

V. The Basic Methods of Primary Reading 

Evolution of Modern Methods of Pri 
mary Reading 

The Synthetic Methods 

The Analytic Methods 

VI. Special Modern Methods of Primary 
Reading 



VII. The Subject-Matter of Primary Reading 

A. The Primer 

B. Reading to Pupils 

C. Telling Stories to Children . 



7 
17 

27 
27 
32 

36 

36 

37 
43 

58 

82 
82 

89 
92 



viii CONTENTS 

CBWPTER PAGE 

VIII. Phonics: The Study of Sound Production 102 

IX. Reading in the Intermediary Grades . 125 
(The Third Year through the Sixth Year) 

X. The Teaching of a Masterpiece . . 159 

Index . . . . ' 207 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 



CHAPTER I 

THE MEANING AND THE PROBLEMS OF THE TEACHING 
OF READING 

Reading: Essentially a Problem of Thought Acquisition. 

— The word "Reading" is traced to the Anglo-Saxon 
"raedon," which means "to advise." "Raedon" re- 
ferred to the process of searching in books (of bark) 
for counsel. The Latin "lego" means "to gather," 
hence the derived meaning "to gather ideas from writ- 
ten sources." These etymological definitions, crude 
and far from the vital problems that must be solved 
in teaching children to read, nevertheless reflect the 
essence of the function of reading, viz., "to impart 
ideas, thoughts, inspirations." To the ancients, reading 
was a "mysterie," a magic art, understood by the sha- 
mans and the medicine men. Although the ability to 
read is today part of every citizen's educational right, 
we must, however, realize that it is none the less a 
"mysterie," when we consider what a complex psycho- 
physiological process it is. How can a collection of 
symbols, static and formal themselves, arouse dynamic 
thought and living inspiration in the mind of the 
child? 

The Elements of Reading.— i. To Extract Thought. — 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

As far as the classroom is concerned, reading must 
discharge certain definite functions. We must con- 
sider these before we discuss methodology in reading, 
for they indicate the goal of all method. Classroom 
reading must seek to develop first, in each child, the 
ability to extract thought from the printed page. 
Since this is essentially the object of reading in after 
life, it must become the governing aim of the teacher's 
endeavors. All other aims, such as pronunciation, ex- 
pression, language, diction, must be subordinated to 
reading for thought. 

2. Proper Vocalisation. — The second function of 
classroom reading is to develop the ability to properly 
vocalize, in the words of the author, the thought that 
was gained; in other words, the ability to read with 
accurate enunciation, clear articulation, and convincing 
expression. Here is posited a secondary aim of read- 
ing, which, however necessary in the classroom, forms 
no part of the reading of after life. The teacher finds 
this added function of reading exceedingly vital. Un- 
less the child has proper vocalization how can she test 
his ability to recognize symbols, to speak articulately, 
to utter thought expressively ? Through the oral ren- 
dition the teacher even learns whether the child has the 
author's thought and responds to the emotional appeal. 
But, in after life, the sole function of reading is the 
acquisition of thought, while proper oral reading is 
regarded as a delightful accomplishment. In the final 
analysis, reading is a means of gaining thought, while 
oral reading is a means of expressing thought. 

2 



MEANING AND PROBLEMS 

3, Literary Appreciation. — But a course of study 
in reading, the aims of which do not transcend thought 
acquisition and thought expression, fails in its most 
vital function. It must strive to develop, in addition, 
an appreciation of the best in literature. Reading 
that does not accomplish this end is sterile in those 
endeavors in which it ought to be most productive. 
We have left behind the formal conception of educa- 
tion which holds" that the school must give only the 
symbols of knowledge. With such an aim in elemen- 
tary education reading is complete that teaches 
how to gain thought and vocalize it correctly. But 
the scope of education, even of elementary grade, must 
be more liberal. It must be cultural and inspirational. 
No school subject is so well adapted to develop this 
spirit as reading. It introduces the child to the best 
thoughts and ideals in the life of the race. Its subject- 
matter, literature, should stimulate the finer emotions, 
train the imagination, and develop the aesthetic sense. 
A school course in reading which discharges these 
functions has fulfiled its raison d'etre, for it has given 
the child the most effective instrument for self-culture 
and character development. This literary ideal should 
determine the choice of subject-matter from the very 
first grade. The school primer, whose inspirational 
appeal is summed up in "See the black cat!", "What 
ails the lock?", must rapidly become a relic of past 
pedagogical practice. 

Charles William Eliot, of Harvard University, 
voices the ultimate end of reading in the school when 

3 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

he tells us, "From the total training during childhood, 
there should result in the child a taste for interesting 
and improving reading, which should direct and in- 
spire its subsequent intellectual life. That schooling 
which results in this taste for good reading, however 
unsystematic and eccentric that schooling may have 
been, has achieved a main end of elementary educa- 
tion; and' that schooling which has not succeeded in 
implanting this permanent taste has failed. Guided 
and animated by this impulse to acquire knowledge 
and exercise his imagination through reading, the in- 
dividual will continue to exercise himself all thtough 
life." G. Stanley Hall reen forces this statement with, 
"The prime object of the reading series should not 
be the cultivation of the art of reading, nor training 
to good style, nor grammatical or linguistic drill, im- 
portant as these are, but the development of a living 
appreciation of good literature and the habit of read- 
ing it, rather than bad literature, for with this end all 
others are secured." 

The Problems in Teaching Children to Read With 

this view of the function of reading, what are the 
problems that confront us , in teaching this art of 
thought acquisition? To begin with, we must look 
upon reading as a physiological process, for we must 
know how these symbols give rise to images on the 
retina, how the eye moves over this series of symbols, 
the strain that is experienced, the causes of fatigue and 
the conditions governing accurate and rapid visual 
grasp. Reading must be looked upon, secondly, as a 

4 



MEANING AND PROBLEMS 

psychological process, for the vital questions here are : 
''How are these visual symbols interpreted into 
thought?" "How can speed and accuracy of this in- 
terpretation be promoted?" And, finally, we must 
regard reading from its pedagogical aspect, for the 
teaching problerlis are many. Reading is an artificial 
process with artificial symbols. How shall it be made 
natural to the child? What means of motivation shall 
we use? Of the imposing array of methods in read- 
ing which shall we select, and what shall be the princi- 
ple of choice? Should ninety-five per cent, of class- 
room reading be oral, if ninety-five per cent, of the 
reading of later life is silent? Will this training' in 
oral reading make us proficient in silent reading? 
Should we train pupils to read slowly and orally in 
the classroom, in spite of the fact that the reading of 
mature life is visual and rapid? Does the slow oral 
reading of the classroom prepare for the rapid visual 
reading of later days? Is that recitation in reading 
efficient which requires that all children rivet their 
eyes on a single paragraph as some unfortunate victim 
labors through it? Each error makes the pupil more 
self-conscious and less able to perform the task. What 
do the other children learn ? How much reading does 
a child learn by listening to others read, even though 
they be good readers? These are a few of a host of 
problems that arise in the teaching of the subject. 
Their answers are vital and make up the pedagogy of 
reading. The reader's attention is therefore invited 
to three successive phases of the subject, which are 

5 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

treated in the chapters entitled, "The Physiology and 
Hygiene of Reading," "The Psychology of Reading," 
and "The Pedagogy of Reading." 



SUGGESTED READING ^ 

Arnold, Sarah L. Learning to Read. Silver, Burdett 
& Co. 

Carpenter, Baker and Scott. The Teaching of Eng- 
lish, 66-75. Longmans, Green & Co. 

Colby, J. R. Literature and Life in the School. Hough- 
ton Mifflin Co. 

Goldwasser, L Edwin. Method and Methods in the 
Teaching of English, chap. L D. C. Heath & Co. 

HuEY, Edmund B. The Psychology and Pedagogy of 
Reading, chap. L The Macmillan Co. 

Laing, Mary E. Reading ; A Manual for Teachers, chap. 
XXL D. C. Heath & Co. 

McClintock, p. L. Literature in the Elementary 
School. University of Chicago Press. 

*The bibliographies at the end of each chapter are not exhaus- 
tive. The aim is, rather, to suggest such reading as will am- 
plify and elaborate the various phases of the subject treated in 
each chapter. Where the publisher is not mentioned, the reader 
will find the book or the reference listed at the end of a previous 
chapter. 



CHAPTER II 

PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE OF READING 

Processes in Oral Reading. — An analysis of the proc- 
esses in oral reading will readily show the teacher that 
they can be summed up under four heads. It is obvi- 
ous that the first must be visual images of the words 
in the text. Just as soon as these are formed they 
call up automatically the second, auditory images of 
these same words. The mind hears the sounds of 
the words. These auditory images, in their turn, 
prompt the third, vocal motor images. The organs 
used in sound production seem to be set in motion by 
an imperative command and the sounds are produced. 
But words have meaning hence we find, in the fourth 
place, ideas and imagery arising from a central thought 
process. In the discussion of the physiology of read- 
ing we must begin with the first of these problems, 
viz., the formation of visual images. The others will 
be treated in the following chapter, "The Psychology 
of Reading." 

Eye Movement in Reading. — We must first note care- 
fully that the eye, contrary to the layman's impression, 
does not move across the line at a uniform rate, but 
rather in jerks or short sweeps, pausing at regular in- 
tervals at points on the line. The movement of the 
eye in reading may be graphically represented thus : 

7 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 







■ u 

2 










2 






2 




2 


1 


1 






1 






1 






1 




1 


2 






2 




2 






2 






2 




1 


1 




1 




1 






1 




1 




1 


u 
2 


2 

1 






2 




2 

1 






2 




2 

1 





Chart A. — Diagrammatic representation of eye-sweeps (i) and 
pauses (2) of four people reading a line of about three inches. 

It is also important to note when the actual reading 
takes place, whether during the movement or during 
the pause. Through careful experimentation we find 
that reading takes place during the pauses, not dur- 
ing the sweeps or glances. 

— M-o^^-e-m-elfl-U — o-i t-4 i c [ c yc i-n I p e a d | i[n g- 

-Mjo V e m e- n t o-4 — h|-^i-« c y | c — t- n [ r| a a d t ng - 

2 22 22 

1 1 

— M-oVpHi 




Chart B. — Actual eye-sweeps (i) and pauses (2) of same four 
people reading same line. 



PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE OF READING 

Practical Importance of Eye Movement in Reading. 

, — This physiological fact is important, because it helps 
us to realize what a fatiguing process reading really is 
for the child. The average person reads an ordinary 
page in two or three minutes. To do this about 150 
of these eye movements are necessary. Let us try to 
move a finger or a hand 150 times in so short a given 
time and then note carefully the fatigue that is experi- 
enced. This gives us an idea of the severe strain to 
which the eye is subjected continuously. It shows us 
that the eye is an organ designed primarily for the 
sight that must be achieved in rudimentary society, yet 
doing twentieth century work. As the book is brought 
nearer the eye the number of sweeps over each line 
decreases, and more is caught at a glance, but as the 
page recedes from the eye the number of sweeps in- 
creases. ' The page, kept at a proper distance from the 
eye, therefore makes a greater drain upon the energy 
of the eye, and the child, instinctively seeking relief, 
brings the page nearer and nearer, until myopia, 
"shortsightedness," sets in. The teacher must realize 
how much care must constantly be exercised if chil- 
dren are to be kept free from eye ailments that follow 
in the wake of reading and study. 

Regularity of Eye Movement Determines Ease in Read- 
ing. — A second important matter in this connection is 
the fact that ease in reading is produced by motor hab- 
its of breaking the lines into a given number of regular 
pauses and moves, each line showing the same number 
of stops and sweeps. Lines on a page should therefore 

9 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

be uniform in length and rather short. But a cursory 
examination of the average popular primer shows that 
this rule is honored more in the breach than in the 
observance. Irregular and broken lines seem to be 
the general law on pages enlivened by pictures. What 
is the invariable result? The eye is fatigued by the 
necessity of readjusting itself to a new set of moves 
and pauses with each varying set of lines. The sooner 
one acquires a rhythmical movement the surer is he 
to read with ease, speed, and minimum fatigue. 
Hence, the ideal page has lines of uniform length — 
one and one-third times that of the average newspaper 
line, or 75 to 80 mm. 

Limited Length of Eye Sweeps. — Since this rhythm 
of movement and periodical pauses causes such eye 
fatigue, we naturally ask, "Why not increase the 
sweep until it includes the whole line?" This^is im- 
possible, for the field of vision is naturally very lim- 
ited. For those who are not aware of how limited it 
is, a surprise is in store. Let them select any letter or 
small word on the page and fix the eye upon it, then 
try to name the surrounding letters or words. In non- 
sense syllables four letters are usually caught in one 
sweep, while seven is an exceptional number. When 
the letters form words sixteen to twenty can be caught 
at once. In reading ordinary prose four to six words 
are included in one sweep. The obvious generalization 
is therefore : the greater the rational association the 
more we seem to acquire in a limited time, and the 
fewer are the eye sweeps per line. It is therefore nec- 

10 



PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE OF READING 

essary to differentiate between what the eye actually 
sees and what the mind contributes in all reading. 
This difference will receive more careful consideration 
in the next chapter, "The Psychology of Reading." 

Importance of the Problem of Optic Fatigue. — The 
teacher must be familiar with these physiological phe- 
nomena of eye movement in reading, because any 
practice which operates counter to the natural move- 
ments of the eye causes reading fatigue, and brings 
with it dangers that are severe and far-reaching. It 
is a common experience of the nerve specialist to find 
that optic fatigue most surely becomes general nerve 
fatigue. Optic fatigue brings in its wake sick head- 
ache, dizziness, digestive disturbances, general debility, 
and irritability. Serious nervous disorders may have 
their origin in optic fatigue. "Eye strain is in closest 
relation to nerve strain ... we seldom or never have 
the former without the latter." When one is physi- 
cally tired he cannot read. He can listen to music, 
follow a discussion, and even argue a point, but he 
turns instinctively from a book. Long reading 
makes one physically tired, because of the constant 
nervous drain that is involved in this complex of phy- 
siological activities and adjustments. 

Causes of Eye Strain and Optic Fatigue What is 

there about the process of reading which brings about 
this severe nervous drain and its resulting optic fa- 
tigue? The conditions are many — so many that a 
child's inattention during a reading lesson whose con- 
text is not very interesting should not be regarded as 

II 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

an unpardonable offense. Chief among the factors 
which produce optic fatigue we may name the follow- 
ing: 

1. In reading much nervous energy is necessary to 
adjust the eye for near accommodations. The natural 
tendency is for the eye to adjust itself to distant vision, 
and give itself over to the round of varied presenta- 
tions within its range. 

2. In order to get each succeeding phrase of any 
sentence into the brightest part of the field of vision, 
the eye moves over the lines by means of the succes- 
sion of sweeps and pauses that were considered. This 
is the greatest single factor in nervous strain caused by 
reading. 

3. During reading the eye muscles are not in mo- 
tion nine-tenths of the time. But, while they are mo- 
tionless, they are strained, trying to hold the eye in 
focus, so that each visual grasp of the line will fall 
on the most sensitive area of the retina. This 
strained rest is far more fatiguing than ordinary 
movement. 

4. In the reading position the muscles of the neck 
are strained to hold the head in proper position. This 
adjustment, when continued for a protracted period, 
causes an obvious nervous strain. Brain energy is 
thus reduced and mental vitality is lowered. 

5. The forward bend of the head produces a blood 
congestion which aggravates the symptoms just noted 
in preceding causes. 

6. Prolonged reading periods in ill-lighted rooms, 

12 



PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE OF READING 

and in seats and at desks that are poorly adapted to 
the children, cause myopia, which is a constant drain 
upon neural energy. Myopia is not only an eye de- 
formity but it is also a progressive disease. 

In the light of the seriousness of eye strain and the 
prevalence of its causes, we see the need of books that 
meet hygienic requirements in print and in arrange- 
ment. To continue putting the prevailing books into 
the hands of children is to court optic fatigue, general 
nervousness, and myopia. We must, therefore, decide 
on the hygienic requirements of a book before we 
consider its pedagogical merits. 

Hygienic Requirements of Properly Printed Books 

I. The Size of the Type is the Most Important Single 
Factor. — There is an unmistakable and an unvarying 
law for size of type, viz., as the type decreases in size 
optic fatigue increases. The effects of insufficient illu- 
mination are less marked than those of undersized 
type. Legibility of type is determined by a number of 
considerations which must be observed by the makers 
of textbooks: (a) the thickness of the vertical stroke, 
{b) proper spacing between vertical strokes, (c) 
proper spacing between the lines, {d) clearness of the 
tops of letters, {e) proper size. The standard for the 
size of type which has met the approval of most spe- 
cialists in the hygiene of reading is clearly formulated 
by Shaw, in his "School Hygiene" (p. 178). Its re- 
quirements and illustrations follow : 

"For the first year the size of the type should be at 

13 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

least 2.6 mm., and the width of leading 4.5 mm., as 
shown in this example: 

Little drop of dew, 
Like a gem you are; 

I believe that you 

Must have been a star. 

"For the second and the third year, the letters 
should not be smaller than 2 mm., with a leading of 
4 mm. Some of the more carefully made books for 
the second and the third years are printed in letters of 
this size, as shown in the following example : 

Children of eight and nine should not 
read type smaller than this. 

"For the fourth year, the letters should be at least 
1.8 mm., with leading of 3.6 mm., as follows: 

Children in the fourth school year should read 
type of this size and appearance. 

"For some grades succeeding this, the type should 
be kept well above the minimal requirements for 
adult readers." 

14 



PHYSIOLOGY AND HYGIENE OF READING 

2. The Length of the Line is the Factor Next in 
Importance. — Short and uniform lines, measuring be- 
tween seventy-five and ninety millimeters, are de- 
manded by most expert investigators. Ninety milli- 
meters is most favored, A full line in this book meas- 
ures about 90 millimeters. The short line saves a num- 
ber of eye movements, for the eye begins each line at 
a point indented, and it stops at a point some distance 
from the end of the line. Experiments show that we 
have a greater visual grasp when the lines are short 
than when they are long. Another cardinal require- 
ment here is absolute uniformity in the length of the 
lines. 

3. Books should be small enough to be held in the 
hand. — Books that are large and heavy are usually 
placed on the desk. The angle of vision is now 
changed, and the letters, becoming foreshortened, are 
thus practically reduced in size. 

4. The Character of the Paper is Also Very Impor- 
tant. — The most legible print is produced by making 
the strongest contrast between the color of the print 
and that of the paper. Since black on a white back- 
ground forms, this contrast in color, only good white 
paper should be used in the manufacture of school 
books. Unusual care should be taken to keep out of 
the school, books printed on glossed paper. The cheap 
paper with a sheen, that makes up so many of our 
school textbooks, gives a play of light that is most 
aggravating to the eye. An equally important require- 
ment insists that the paper have a minimum thickness 

15 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

of .075 mm., so that the print on one side will not 
show on the other. 

Boards of Education to Standardize Books. — In the 
light of these hygienic demands, how many of the class 
textbooks are up to standard? An examination with 
the aid of a millimeter measure and a magnifying 
glass will show to principals and teachers an amaz- 
ingly low percentage. But books properly printed need 
not cost appreciably more. Only when Boards of Edu- 
cation have adopted a standard will publishing con- 
cerns refrain from continuing the publication of books 
that rob eyesight and cause an inexcusable nervous 
drain. Indifference to matters so vital to health and 
efficiency is unpardonable. 

SUGGESTED READING 

Cohen, H. The Hygiene of the Eye. The Midland 
Educational Co. (Ltd.), Eng. 

Dresslar, T. B. School Hygiene, chap. XV. The 
Macmillan Co. 

HuEY, Edmund B. Psychology and Pedagogy of Read- 
ing, chaps. II, HI, XX, XXI. 

Shaw, Edward R. School Hygiene, chap. IX. The 
Macmillan Co. 

Taylor. J. S. Principles and Methods of Teaching 
Reading, chaps. II, VIII. The Macmillan Co. 



CHAPTER III 

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 

Inner Speech in Reading. — We come now to a more 
complex problem, the psychology of reading, which 
studies how the visual impression of the word stimu- 
lates the auditory image, thus bringing about mean- 
ing and interpretations. Because there is an insepar- 
able association between a word and its sound there is 
always a problem of inner speech. Just as soon as a 
visual image of a word is recognized in consciousness 
an auditory image of it arises, and these two prompt 
an instantaneous verbal motor expression. Hence the 
conclusion of investigators is, "In visual reading the 
auditory and the motor centers work along" (Mess- 
mer). Purely visual reading is not normal. We have 
here, therefore, an explanation of the prevalent prac- 
tice, in early reading, of lip movement. This method 
of reading is not acquired by the children; it is the 
result of the natural tendency to give expression to 
any idea in the mind. No sooner does the mind be- 
come conscious of the meaning of the symbol which it 
sees than the organs of speech give expression to it. 
Reading without lip reaction is an acquired art, a 
habit to be cultivated. But, even when there is no 

17 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

apparent lip movement, there is a muscular reaction 
going on in the throat, which can readily be detected 
by the trained observer and his instruments. 

The preceding discussions concerned themselves 
with eye reading. In the present chapter we must 
turn our attention to a second form of reading 
— mental reading. These two forms of reading, 
eye reading and mind reading, must be differenti- 
ated very clearly. Because the child, who is learning 
to read, speaks and hears his native language, he has 
a feeling for its structure, form, and cadence. It 
follows, therefore, that most of the expression, the 
stops at sense pauses, the intonations, etc., in the child's 
Speech, are due to associations formed long ago. In 
reading "since he" the child naturally expects "he 
therefore"; likewise "not only" calls up "but also"; 
-as"— "as"; "neither— nor" ; "if— then," etc. The 
mind, therefore, makes a liberal contribution to what 
the eye brings ; a reader perceives mentally more than 
the eye brings in any one sweep. Since this mental 
expectancy makes the mind a more rapid reader than 
the eye, it follows that one often has the meaning of 
a sentence before the eye has formed a retinal image 
of the end of it. 

Relation of "Rate in Reading" to Thought Acquisition 
in Reading. — The practical teacher may now ask, 
"Why stop at the problems of inner speech in reading, 
and mental vs. visual reading?" These two questions 
are important, because they determine a most vital 
factor in reading as a process of thought-getting, viz., 

i8 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 

"Rate in Reading." From actual observation we find 
that there are great discrepancies in the rate of read- 
ing among individuals ; the variations show a usual ra- 
tio of I 13, or even i -.4. In other words, it is usual 
to find among people of the same class, experience, and 
education individuals who read three or four times 
faster than others. Generally speaking, the rate in 
reading is determined hy the rhythmical sweeps of the 
eye over a line; hut the rate of rhythmic sweeps is, in 
its turn, modified by inner speech and mental grasp. 
The impatient teacher, confronted by actual problems 
in the teaching of reading, may insist: "What if 
there is such discrepancy — aside from the time con- 
sumed, what is its importance? After all, is it not 
more important to consider what we read and what 
we get out of it, than how much or how fast we read?" 

The answer, surprisingly, is in the negative. Rapid 
readers are the more intelligent readers; they gain 
more intensive and more vivid impressions than slow 
readers. Those who indulge in lip movement, in audi- 
tory aids and the like are not only less extensive but 
also less intensive readers. Evidence to prove this 
contention is so great that we need argue the matter 
no further but examine the conclusions of various im- 
partial observers : 

"Experiments show that half-second exposure of a 
word is more advantageous than a whole second, and 
one second more advantageous than two. . . . When 
printed matter was exposed for a short time, about 
one one-hundredth of a second, more could be read or 

19 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

the same amount could be read more easily, than when 
the exposure was longer." ^ 

"Rapid readers remember more of the original 
thought, and the character of their reproductions is 
much higher, both generally and with reference to ex- 
pression and logical content." - 

"It might be supposed that greater rapidity was 
gained at the sacrifice of exactness or of intelligence. 
This supposition is negatived by an examination of 
the amount and quantity of the material reproduced. 
A comparison between the ten most rapid readers and 
the ten slowest shows that the rapid readers remember 
more of the original thoughts, and that the character 
of their reproduction is much higher, both generally 
and with reference to expression and logical content. 
In the auditory tests the ratio of slow to rapid readers 
is 14.8 per cent, to 20.7 per cent, in the number of 
thoughts. In quality the percentages are 47.8 for slow 
readers, 60.3 for fast. The same comparison in the 

*HuEy. "Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading." 
* QuANTZ. Psychological Review, ii, 28, 38. The degree in 
which the rapid readers excel the slow in eyemindedness can 
perhaps best be understood by a comparison of extreme classes. 
The "very slow readers" (3.9 words per second) reproduce 89.1 
per cent, as much of the visual selection as the auditory, while 
the very "rapid readers" (7.3 words per second) are able to 
recall 123.2 of visual for every 100 of auditory ; that is, the 
ratio of reading rates between the slowest and the fastest readers 
is 3.9 to 7.3 (i :i.87), while the ratio of visual tendency as com- 
pared with the auditory is 89.1 to 123.2 (1:1.38). On the princi- 
ple of correlations this result shows eyemindedness to be a 
rather strong factor in the determination of reading rates. 

20 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 

visual tests results as follows : Percentage of thoughts 
reproduced by slow readers, 14.9; by rapid, 24.4. 
Quality : Slow, 48 per cent. ; rapid, 73.3 per cent. 
The difference in favor of the 'rapids' is consequently 
much greater than in auditory tests, indicating again 
that rapid readers are, as a rule, of the visual type. . . . 
"To emphasize this relation a comparison of ex- 
tremes might be shown as follows : The ten slowest 
readers show almost double the amount of lip move- 
ment that the ten most rapid do. Or, again, determin- 
ing the rate by means of lip movement, we have : the 
ten most decided lip movers read 4.1 words per sec- 
ond; that is, they are between the classes 'slow' and 
'very slow' and nearer to the latter ; while the ten who 
show least movement of lips read 5.6 words per sec- 
ond, very close to an average rapid." ^ ,: ;j,"Xi. ^ 

Why the Slow Reader Is the less Thoughtfut' One. 
— "Regarding language as an apparatus of symbols 
for the conveyance of thought, we may say that, as in 
a mechanical apparatus, the more simple and the better 
arranged are the parts, the greater will be the effect 
produced. In either case, whatever force is absorbed 
by the machine is deducted from the result. A reader 
or listener has at each moment but a limited amount 
of mental power available. To recognize and interpret 
the symbols presented to him requires part of this 
power; to arrange and combine the images suggested 
requires another part ; and only that part that remains 
can be used for realizing the thought conveyed. Hence 
^QuANTz. Ibid. 

2,1 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

the more time it takes to receive and understand each 
sentence, the less time can be given to the contained 
idea, and the less vividly will the idea be conceived." ^ 
Conclusions for Teaching. — The relation of rate of 
reading to intelligence of grasp implies important con- 
clusions for methods of teaching in both early and 
later grades. The first inference that we can make 
is that a method of reading must start from the very 
beginning to teach instantaneous recognition of words, 
either as a whole or as part of larger language units, 
phrases or sentences. Any method which begins read- 
ing by teaching the child to examine each word, to 
analyze it into component phonograms, to sound each 
phonogram, to combine these sounds to get the word, 
places a premium on lip movement and unnecessary 
audible aids, and promotes slow, ponderous reading, 
which develops into habits that defy later efforts at 
correction. Our objection to synthetic methods, like 
the Pollard Method and the Emma K. Gordon Meth- 
od is that they manifest these shortcomings. Meth- 
ods like the Aldine, the McCloskey, the Progres- 
sive Road, and, in a minor way, the Ward Rational 
System, seek to avoid these dangers. The child must 
learn to read words in logical sequence, words as 
wholes, naturally and expressively. Only when proper 
and natural speed and expression are developed are the 
analytical and phonetical elements and processes 
taught. 

A second conclusion that the observations of "rate 

* Spencer. Philosophy of Style. 

22 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 

in reading" teach is that, since the mind reads faster 
than the eye, the learner must be taught to neglect the 
word and the phrase and seek the thought; in other 
words, the word-symbols must be subordinated to the 
meaning. We must make the eye as sensitive and 
efficient a tool for thought-getting as the ear. In lis- 
tening to a speaker, if there is nothing unusual about 
his choice of words or pronunciation, we are hardly 
conscious of the words; we busy ourselves with the 
thought. We have thus trained ourselves uncon- 
sciously in life, to neglect auditory words and seek 
meaning. In the same way, the method of reading in 
the elementary school must seek to make the eye so 
sensitive to meaning that in scanning a page it be- 
comes as unconcerned with printed words as the ear is 
with auditory symbols. The child must learn that 
words are like our eye-glasses — they are of greatest 
service when we look through them, not at them. The 
printed page must ever be like a glass which we do not 
see, but through which we see thought. 

The Fetish of Oral Reading. — If we grant this con- 
clusion then we must change the relative emphasis on 
oral and silent reading, and give to the latter the 
prominent place accorded the former in present-day 
practice. Not only do we place too great an emphasis 
on oral reading, but we begin it too early in the school 
life of the child. The popular superstition is that 
plenty of drill in oral reading in the classroom pre- 
pares for efficiency in silent reading in the post-school 
days. Let us examine this contention psychologically. 

23 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

Efficiency in silent reading is determined by the devel- 
opment of a mental habit to associate instantaneously 
the visual image of the word with the thought. In all 
oral reading the visual image must associate itself with 
the auditory image ; these, then, bring a recognition of 
the idea represented by the symbol. The final link in 
this long chain is the verbal-motor expression. Graph- 
ically, the associations in these two forms of reading 
may be expressed in the following symbols : Silent 
Reading: Visual Image — Thought. Oral Reading: 
Visual Image — Auditory Image — Idea — Verbal Motor 
Image. The brain centers that operate, and also the 
mental associations and stimulations, are different in 
the two forms of reading. An overemphasis on oral 
reading, therefore, trains the mind to make the long 
circuit, and thus unfits the individual for efficient read- 
ing in later life. The earlier we develop the short 
circuit habit of "visual image, thought," in our chil- 
dren, the sooner are we making them efficient and in- 
telligent readers. Many writers would go so far as 
to insist that oral reading should be the exception 
rather than the rule, and should be tolerated in the 
class only as an expression of a thought gained or 
sentiments enjoyed during the lesson. This is obvi- 
ously an extreme attitude. 

These educators justify their plea for a postpone- 
ment of oral reading on the ground that the steps in 
oral reading are : ( i ) instantaneous recognition of 
symbols, (2) extraction of the thought, (3) expres- 
sion of the thought. Hence no effective oral reading 

24 



THE PSYCHOLOGY OF READING 

can take place unless the child has developed reliable 
ability and undoubted mastery of rapid symbol inter- 
pretation and thought extraction. This capability 
must necessarily come after long, laborious effort. It 
is because children are asked to read without guaran- 
teeing this ability that real expression is not only im- 
possible but is undermined permanently. The blame 
for the stifif, stilted, artificial oral reading of the ele- 
mentary school must be laid at the door of premature 
oral reading. 

A third lesson that this psychological study teaches 
us is that from the very beginning the work in primary 
reading must be conducted in such a way as to develop 
(i) speed, (2) accuracy, (3) direct association be- 
tween printed symbol and idea, omitting the auditory 
image. Therefore, in asking children to read early 
blackboard exercises, the time during which the sen- 
tence or phrase or word is exposed should be limited. 
The subject-matter to be read is shown and then 
quickly erased or covered. Instead of reading the 
assigned sentence orally after this limited exposure, 
let the child give evidence of the possession of the 
thought in ways other than verbal. Thus the first 
rhyme of the Aldine Method, "Come, come away and 
play" is shown. Two children are called, "A" takes 
"B" by the hand and attempts to lead him away to 
play. "Have you a knife?" is the sentence given to 
another lad to read. He looks at it, "sees" the 

thought, and then says, "Yes, Miss , I have a 

knife." "The soldiers are marching down the street," 

25 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

is an assignment to the next pupil. Instead of reading 
it aloud, he gives evidence of the thought by march- 
ing down the aisle like a soldier. In all these exercises 
the endeavor is to train the child to omit the auditory 
image, to develop speed in reading and to read for 
thought. Such drills are a source of absorbing interest 
to the children and develop a basis of correct habits 
upon which the teacher can confidently build. 



SUGGESTED READING 

Balliet, Thomas M. Association of Ideas in Reading. 

National Education Association, 1893. 
Dearborn, W. F. Psychology of Reading. Columbia 

University Contributions to Philosophy and Psy- 
chology, V, XIV, No. I. 
HuEY, E. B. Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading, 

chaps. IV, V, VI, VII, VIII. 
Laing, Mary E. Reading; A Manual for Teachers, 

chaps. X, XI, XIX, XX. 
Taylor, J. S. Principles and Methods of Teaching 

Reading, chaps. I, III. 
O'Shea, M. V. Linguistic Development, pp. 163-230. 

The Macmillan Co. 



CHAPTER IV 

PEDAGOGY OF READING 
A. WHEN SHALL READING BE TAUGHT? 

A popular question of the day among theoretical 
educators is when to begin to teach elementary read- 
ing. Their conclusions show remarkable unanimity, 
for writers like Dewey, Huey, Laing, McMurry, Mary 
Putnam Jacobi and Parker insist on the elimination 
of reading in the first three years of school life. One 
naturally questions their position. In the main their 
arguments are fivefold : 

1. The Hygienic Considerations. — We saw the dan- 
gers of eye fatigue and eye strain in reading, how ill 
adapted the eye seems to be for the purposes that 
present-day civilization imposes upon it. Hence it is ar- 
gued that the young child should be relieved of the at- 
tending physiological dangers in learning to read. But 
we must realize the inevitable fact that the eye must 
be accustomed to read, must learn to adjust itself to 
twentieth-century needs. If books were printed in 
accordance with hygienic prescriptions the attending 
dangers would be greatly minimized. 

2. Psychological Considerations. — Those educators 

27 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

who insist that children in the first three years of the 
school course should not be taught to read base their 
position on psychological grounds. In the first place, 
they argue that coarser adjustments must be made be- 
fore the finer ones, that the fundamental muscles must 
be controlled before the delicate peripheral ones. The 
muscles of the body in general, those in the arms, 
hands, legs, etc., should be made sensitive and ready 
to coordinate with the mind before we develop in the 
child the ability to attend to the more delicate coordi- 
nations. Their second psychological objection is that 
concrete knowledge must be acquired before symbols 
are taught. Hence the opponents of early reading in- 
sist, why not teach the facts of nature, of local geogra- 
phy, of industry, of manual work, before giving the 
symbols for thought-getting in reading. That bad 
mental habits are developed is another argument of 
this school. The child is too young to concentrate 
upon such work, hence mind wandering is encouraged, 
and the powers for application are undermined. These 
exercises in symbol interpretation are opposed to the 
cravings and interests characteristic of the young child, 
and there is constant aversion rather than attraction. 
A final psychological objection which these educators 
advance is that, with the very young child the whole 
process is an unintelligent one. The processes in read- 
ing are too difficult, and they hold that all mental ac- 
tivity goes to the recognition of symbols, rather than 
to the thought which they symbolize. They argue that 
this explains the frequency, among children, of expres- 

28 



PEDAGOGY OF READING 



sionless reading, constant stumbling and word-reading, 
rather than thought acquisition, — in a word, the 
wrong habits of reading that defy the teacher's effort. 
3. Social Considerations. — These opponents of early 
reading tell us that for sociological reasons the pre- 
vailing custom of initiating the young child into the 
mysteries of symbols is unsound pedagogy. Life to- 
day, they argue, is industrial and manual. Bookish- 
ness is not a characteristic of modern social organiza- 
tion. Reading is too individual a process for the 
young child, whose life and outlook are intensely self- 
centered. We must teach the social duties and social 
relations of life. This seems an imposing indictment 
against our system of primary reading, but our very 
social life is the main justification for elementary read- 
ing in the beginning of school life. The efficiency of 
our mails, the universality of the newspaper, the multi- 
plicity of worthy publications, the unprecedented facil- 
ities of the public libraries, and cheap printing make 
reading a positive necessity that must be answered as 
soon as possible. Reading and writing need not mo- 
nopolize the first three years of elementary training; 
there need be no reading fetish. But withal, reading 
deserves an important place in these grades. It is in- 
appropriate to apply the term, "bookishness" to such 
work. Once the child has learned to read, he has a 
source of infinite joy and rich culture. In spite of all 
that is said to the contrary, there is nothing individual- 
istic in this pleasure. Reading is a very social process ; 
it acquaints the child with the thoughts and the lives 

29 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

of others, and breaks the confining bonds of the child's 
personal life. 

4. The Culture Epoch Theory Against Early Reading. 
— This theory of recapitulation, when applied to edu- 
cation, has been interpreted to mean that each indi- 
vidual should be taken through those stages through 
which the race passed in its development. The early 
life of man concerned itself with the concrete; it knew 
only oral speech; man himself was ear-minded, not 
eye-minded, in language. Hence, these educators con- 
clude that all language work in the early grades must 
be exclusively oral. While all these characterizations 
of early society are true, we must, nevertheless, realize 
that, to prepare the child for present and future life, 
we teach the needs of existing and not of past society. 

5. Pedagogical Considerations. — The advocates for 
the postponement of the teaching of reading bring, 
finally, pedagogical considerations to bear out their 
contention. Why spend so much time and effort on a 
task that can be accomplished in less time and to 
greater advantage when the child is two or three years 
older? The child is a motor animal, with interests 
that are manual and practical. He turns from the 
early phases of reading because the work is too formal 
and lacks vital motive. Here, too, we find an array 
against early reading which is not as true and as far- 
reaching as is often supposed. True, reading can be 
taught the child of ten with greater ease than the child 
of six, but so can any other serious subject; therefore, 
why not postpone all school work? The child is a 

30 



PEDAGOGY OF READING 

motor animal, but, despite this prominent characteris- 
tic, he has other interests as well. He is curious; he 
loves the story ; he has a dramatic sense, a feeling for 
rhythm, etc. Although the child experiences no "per- 
sonal hunger" for reading, the problem, approached 
carefully, need not be the arbitrary lesson it is made 
out to be. The love for the story, and the desire for 
the acquisition of a practical art, the social use of 
which the child sees daily in his immediate life, serve 
to motivate early reading lessons. By erroneous meth- 
ods and unattractive devices, teachers often kill the 
vital interest which children bring to this work. This 
argues, not the postponement of reading, but a decided 
and immediate reform in methods of teaching read- 
ing. Despite the long imposing series of arguments 
to' the contrary, the writer feels that reading should 
be taught at an age as early as the child will allow. 
Experience shows this to be about the age of seven. 
Reading is the ''ppen^ sesame" to those ideals, 
inspirations and joys of the past, which have 
been crystallized in literature. The mechanics of 
reading entail a mastery of arbitrary and unin- 
teresting symbols. The sooner the drudgery is 
finished, and we present to our children the vital 
elements of reading, the surer are we to implant an 
appreciation of true literature. A cursory perusal of 
the educational statistics concerning elimination and 
overage shows that an alarmingly increasing number 
of children joins the industrial and commercial ranks 
at the end of the sixth school year. If reading is post- 
31 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

poned to the beginning of the fourth year, we shall 
send out a large percentage of the school population 
woefully handicapped. In the final view, the practical 
needs of the community, rather than subtle psycho- 
logical analyses, must determine the organization of 
educational systems and their curricula. 

B. BASIC AIMS IN READING 

There are two contending conceptions that govern 
methods of teaching reading to children in the early 
grades. One strives to make reading a formal or 
mechanical process, the other looks upon reading as a 
cultural or educational influence. The method that a 
teacher follows gains its life and spirit from the point 
of view that she takes toward her work. Uncon- 
sciously she interprets every phase of her work in 
terms of it. We must, therefore, consider the contend- 
ing viewpoints in teaching reading. 

Formal Reading. Educational or Thought 

Reading. 

1. Reading must always i. Reading justifies itself 
be looked upon as an end in only because it is a means 
itself. to a higher end, viz., 

thought. 

2. Reading is a technical 2, Reading must be 
process, and as such is con- looked upon as a process of 
cerned with giving the thought-getting, of learn- 
child a mastery of the tools, ing to express thought, of 

32 



PEDAGOGY OF READING 



the symbols, by means of 
which we gain thought. 
Aside from this technical 
ability the teacher of read- 
ing need have no other 
care nor concern. 

3. Since reading is a me- 
chanical process, it must be 
taught as an arbitrary proc- 
ess through hard memory 
drills. No reason, no mo- 
tive need be given. 



4. To speak of getting 
thought without making 
reading a process of sym- 
bol interpretation is ab- 
surd. Children leave 
school hampered in their 
ability to extract the 
thought from the printed 
page because their knowl- 
edge of symbols, phonics, 
word analysis, etc., is so 
vague that the deficiencies 
in the formal aspect of 
reading make impossible 
progress in the rational. 

5. That the sentence is 
the unit of mental grasp, 
and the word the unit of 



increasing one's language 
stock. The mastery of 
symbols must be incidental 
and of subordinate inter- 
est. 

3. As a thought-getting 
process, reading must al- 
ways start from a con- 
scious need felt by the 
child. His love for the 
story, his desire to know 
how to read, will rational- 
ize the work. 

4. True, thought-getting 
is simplified and even made 
possible only in proportion 
as the symbols are turned 
into habit. But the child 
should begin by reading for 
thought. All technicalities 
must be based upon the 
work thus mastered. 



5. If the aim of reading 
is to develop the ability to 
extract thought from the 



33 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 



visual grasp, if the oft- 
quoted law ; hence a mas- 
tery of words must pre- 
cede a mastery of the sen- 
tence. 



6. Reading must be a 
synthetic process ; begin 
with a study of phonics, 
phonograms, sounds ; com- 
bine these so that the child 
learns to read any new 
word. Typical of the meth- 
ods conceived in this spirit 
is the Gordon or the Pol- 
lard Method. 



printed page, and if the 
sentence is the unit of 
thought, then the child 
ought to be taught to read 
sentences first and then to 
master the words that make 
them up. 

6. Teach reading as an 
analytical process ; the sen- 
tence must be mastered be- 
fore the word, and the 
word before the phono- 
gram. The McCloskey 
Method, The F a r n h a m 
Method, The Aldine, The 
Progressive Road are typi- 
cal illustrations. 



Conclusion. — Despite the sharp line of demarcation 
that each school seeks to draw, we see that neither has 
a monopoly of pedagogical wisdom. If we unite these 
two tendencies we evolve a composite method which 
insures thoughtful, expressive reading, fluent and 
smooth, and which also develops that mastery of the 
technique of symbols that is absolutely essential. A 
method must begin with thought acquisition. The 
text of this reading is analyzed and is made to yield 
material for the study of phonograms, which are basic 
in independent word recognition. In making our final 
recommendation for a modern, progressive and peda- 
gogical method of teaching reading in the primary 
grades, we shall again refer to this standard. 

34 



PEDAGOGY OF READING 



SUGGESTED READING 

Carpenter, Baker and Scott. Teaching of English, 

75-80. Longmans, Green & Co. 
Chubb, Percival. The Teaching of English, chap. V. 

The Macmillan Co. 
Dewey, John. The Primary Education Fetish. Forum, 

V, 315-328. 

Hosic, James F. Elementary School Course in Eng- 
lish, 35-42. University of Chicago Press. 

HuEY, E. B. Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading, 
chaps. XV, XVI. 

Laing, Mary E. Reading ; A Manual for Teachers, chap. 
II. 

Taylor, J. S. Principles and Methods of Teaching 
Reading, chap. IV. 



CHAPTER V 

THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 
EVOLUTION OF MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 



The Multiplicity of Primary Methods. — The student 
of methodology is bewildered by the numerous and 
diversified methods that have been evolved for teach- 
ing children to read. This multiplicity shows clearly 
that the problem of primary reading is an exceedingly 
difficult one, and that many of the current methods are 
ill adapted to meet the needs of the practical classroom 
teacher. In this vast array of methods we can discern 
six that are basic in so far as they contribute a dis- 
tinct idea in the progressive development of methods 
of teaching primary children to read. These basic 
methods are grouped under two main headings, 
the Synthetic vs. the Analytic Methods. The subdivi- 
sions of these can readily be seen from the following 
table : 

Tadlb of Basic Methods of Primary Reading 



Synthetic Methods 


Analytic Methods 




Phonic 


Phonetic 


Word Basis 


Thought Basis 




Ward 


Sentence Unit 


Story Unit 


Alphabetic 


Famham 


McCloskey 



All Modem Methods are Combinations and Modifications of These. 



36 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

The simplest sequence in this evolution of method 
is the historical one; we shall examine each of these 
methods critically in the chronological order. 

THE SYNTHETIC METHODS 

I. The Alphabetic Method. — The underlying principle 
of the alphabetic method is that the combination of 
letters will give the word which is the unit of utter- 
ance. The method, therefore, teaches the alphabet 
and then proceeds to develop a mastery of monosylla- 
bles by a method of oral spelling, c, a, t, cat ; m, a, n, 
man, etc., are learned by verbal repetitions, reenforced 
by visual appeals from the blackboard or charts on 
which these symbols are written or printed. This is 
the time-honored method which has taught mankind 
how to read. 

Limitations of the Alphabetic Method. — Despite its 
great service in the past, the alphabetic method must 
be set aside today for many serious reasons. ( i ) It is 
thoroughly unpedagogic, beginning, not with what the 
child knows, with words, or sentences, but with un- 
known names of meaningless letters. (2) It is illogi- 
cal in its basic principle, because only combination of 
the sounds of the letters will give the word ; a combina- 
tion of the letters d, 0, g will give dee, 0,0,0, g, g, but 
never the word "dog." The more logical procedure is, 
therefore, to teach the sounds and make the names in- 
cidental. It is true that children will eventually infer 
the sounds of letters from their names, but this makes 

2,7 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

accidental such knowledge as should be focal in the 
course of instruction. (3) This method is exceed- 
ingly tedious, because of its absolute disregard of 
content and because of its utter neglect of the child's 
interest and viewpoints toward life. (4) As a final 
indictment of the method it must be urged that it is 
unduly difficult. Actual test will soon convince the 
teacher that children will remember the word-pictures 
"father," "mother," "doll," more readily than the 
names of the letters "f," "h," "t," etc. The reason is 
simple. In the case of the word-picture the child asso- 
ciates an arbitrary symbol with a known name, but in 
the case of the letters both name and symbol are un- 
known. The obvious conclusion, therefore, counsels 
that reading begin at the point of contact, i. e., with 
those elements that are part of the child's knowledge 
and interests. 

It is because of these serious defects that the alpha- 
betic method has been relegated to the pedagogical 
scrap heap. It does not follow that the alphabet 
should not be learned. It is an aid in spelling, and 
very necessary for business purposes, for filing of rec- 
ords, for finding data in directories, telephone books, 
dictionaries, etc., and should not be neglected. But 
the alphabet should not be imposed before the second 
year, when its need is felt in spelling. 

II. The Phonic Method. — The basic fallacy of the al- 
phabetic method suggests the underlying principle of 
the phonic method, which holds that since the sounds 
of letters uttered rapidly will give the word, teaching 

38 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

must begin with the functions, not the names, of let- 
ters. In the final analysis the method is like its prede- 
cessor, except for the fact that the child is taught to 
call the letter by its sound rather than by its name. In 
all other respects, the same rigorous, synthetic process 
is followed, with the same utter neglect of content and 
emphasis on form. The Emma K. Gordon Method 
is a modern application of this principle of reading. 

Despite the fact that this principle found wide rec- 
ognition and application in comparatively recent times, 
it must not be inferred that the phonic method is a 
modern inspiration. Ickelsamer is usually credited as 
the originator, in 1534. He taught reading by an in- 
terjectional method, which associated letters with ani- 
mals whose characteristic sounds suggested the sound 
of the letter, or with pictures that suggested the sounds 
of letters. R was shown with a picture of a dog 
whose angry brrr suggested the sound of r; sch was 
seen on a picture of children chasing geese, because 
the sound which would frighten the animals suggested 
the sound of sch. The Jansenites (Port Royalists), 
Buno, Rousseau, Basedow, Pestalozzi, these are only a 
few names of a host of educators who elaborated the 
phonic method and introduced the play element, very 
often to a ludicrous extent. 

Advantages of the Phonic Method. — For this sys- 
tem of reading we must urge that ( i ) it is more logi- 
cal to teach the functions than the names of letters; 
(2) it gives the child a more trained ear and a better 
articulated speech; (3) it is an aid in spelling, even in 

39 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

our unphonetic language, and (4) it teaches the child 
how to attack a word whose form is absolutely new 
to him. 

Limitations of the Phonic Method. — But this meth- 
od, when applied to English, is very often ineffective. 
In the first place, it makes the function of letters focal, 
but the sound of letters is precisely the least fixed ele- 
ment in our language ; the sounds of letters vary to an 
exasperating degree. Our thirteen vowel sounds can 
be expressed in one hundred and four different ways : 
the sound of 6 is found in float, yeoman, sow, sew, 
soul, sole, beait, owe, etc. ; ea boasts of an equally rich 
variety of sounds. In many cases a letter may become 
altogether silent. 

A second serious limitation of the method is found 
in the fact that it may encourage stammering among 
young children whose coordinations are still unformed 
and who show a tendency to linger on labials, dentals, 
and liquids. Any method which teaches reading by a 
process of phonic synthesis aggravates a tendency 
which the teacher must assiduously strive to eliminate. 
For this reason students of methodology and expert 
investigators like Huey and Hughes are unalterably 
opposed to this method. Bell calls the school that uses 
phonic synthesis a nursery for stammering. Class 
teachers bring practical evidence which bears out this 
indictment against phonic synthetic methods. 

Thirdly, it is apparent that this method is no less un- 
pedagogical than the alphabetic, because it, too, begins, 
not at the point of contact between the child and read- 

40 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

ing, but at the most painful point, phonics. This ex- 
plains why the child finds it exceedingly difficult to 
retain a set of arbitrary sounds for a series of sym- 
bols that are meaningless. Actual experience proves 
that the child remembers the arbitrary names of letters 
more easily than the arbitrary sounds. 

Final Estimate of the Phonic Method. — In the light 
of the initial conception of reading as a process of 
thought acquisition, it is obvious that the method of 
phonic synthesis is not a reading method. It is merely 
a systematized attempt to give the child a mastery of 
technical elements in the reading process. As such, it 
becomes a necessary part of a method in reading, but 
not a reading method itself. The skilful teacher uses it 
merely as a preparatory drill, "a gymnastic which is 
aimed to sharpen the perception for words and sounds." 

III. The Phonetic Method. — The" enthusiasts for the 
phonic method endeavored to save it from what they 
considered the most important criticism, viz., the varia- 
bility of the function of letters. They endorsed the 
basic principle, and the general procedure of the phonic 
method, and then set themselves to the task of making 
variable sounds permanent. To do this they evolved 
a complex system of diacritical marks, and distorted 
forms of letters. Since the sounds of a vary, then the 
sound of a, in bake, was represented a-s a, in back, as a, 
in far, as a, in ball, as a, etc ; a was to be taught as dif- 
fering from a as much as it does from b or d. If c 
has two sounds, then c represented one sound and C 
the other. Much ingenuity was spent in involving 

41 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

these "fixing marks," which differed, of course, in each 
new system of phonetic reading that flooded the school 
market. The only difference between a phonic and a 
phonetic method is the "fixing signs," or the diacritical 
marks. Reading matter took the form of, 

hQjdqy/ejiff ne/j^j/iborhppd, lai/gh, zinc, fity 

Estimate of Phonetic Method. — It is obvious that 
while this method gains by fixing the variable func- 
tions it loses by increasing the number of symbols al- 
most threefold. It makes no other contribution to the 
phonic method, and is, therefore, not a whit above it 
in the pedagogical scale. Fitch and Garlick, among 
others, find fault with the method because, they argue, 
it is "illusive and postpones the real difficulty." When 
the symbols are printed the child can read, but just as 
soon as a book without these hieroglyphics is pre- 
sented, the child is lost; he was made dependent on a 
set of aids. This argument against the phonetic meth- 
od is not borne out by actual practice, nor by psy- 
chological evidence. Children who for two years have 
read in a book printed with all the diacritical aids will, 
when given a page without these, read without any 
notice of the absence of the auxiliary marks. This 
actual result finds its explanation in the fact that we 
read words as a whole, not by the synthesis of com- 
ponent sounds or symbols. In the final analysis, the 
phonetic method contributes a device, not a rational 
system of reading. 

42 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 
THE ANALYTIC METHODS ^ 

Essentials of a Modern Method- — i. A Vital Point of 
Contact: Reading to Begin in Real Content. — All syn- 
thetic methods, whether alphabetic, phonic, or pho- 
netic, suffer from the same inherent limitation which 
militates against ultimate success. They all fail to real- 
ize that reading cannot be made vital to children unless 
it begins in their lives, in their needs, and in the prob- 
lems that present themselves for urgent solution. No 
child feels an urgent craving for a mastery of letters 
or sounds ; all normal children are consumed by a de- 
sire for the story, with its alluring "once upon a time." 
A modern method of reading begins with a language 
unit that represents some idea or image. Just what 
this language unit shall be is a source of much con- 
tention. , To some, therefore, the word is a proper be- 
ginning; to others, the sentence with its complete 
thought seems a more rational initiatory step, while to 
a third group, the story must be the means of intro- 
ducing the child to the art of reading. Typical of 
these three views, we find the Ward, the Farnham, 
and the McCloskey methods, respectively. We shall 
presently turn to a detailed consideration of each of 
these. 

1 In treating these methods of teaching reading to beginners 
the author merely suggests the underlying principle, the gen- 
eral organization and an estimate of each. Teachers and super- 
visors who desire a more detailed knowledge of any of these 
methods must secure the "Teachers' Manual" by the author of 
the respective method and a full complement of the primers 
and the readers. 

43 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

2. Reading an Analytic Process. — A second requis- 
ite of a modern system of reading is that it should be- 
gin by a method of "look and say." The child is 
shown a word or a sentence, and is taught to recognize 
this, not by a synthesis of letters or sounds, but by the 
appearance of words as wholes. Reading is therefore 
analytic in its nature. 

3. Phonic or Phonetic in Its Analytic Development. 
— -A third essential insists that, after the mastery of 
words by a purely sight method, the child should learn 
the sounds of the symbols that are used. Whether the 
method be phonic or phonetic, it is absolutely neces- 
sary that the study of symbols be an outgrowth of the 
stock of sight words that the child mastered. 

A method of reading that possesses these three basic 
essentials is not inevitably a satisfactory one. But a 
method that violates any one of these principles is so 
lacking in sound pedagogical organization that it 
makes impossible the development of proper habits 
in reading. 

I. The Ward or Rational Method of Reading.^ — i. Un- 
derlying Principle. — The Ward Method holds that a 
word is recognized by its appearance as a whole, but 
words are also the unit of oral speech; hence, all read- 
ing should begin by a mastery of a stock of useful 
sight words. The Ward Method is frequently adver- 
tised as a sentence method. While it can readily be 
turned into such, we must remember that the author 

^ Edward G. Ward. The Rational Method in Reading, Silver, 
Burdett & Co. 

44 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

of the method says in his manual : "The Rational 
Method is a peculiar combination of the word and the 
phonetic method. . . . The word method is used first 
as principal, because of its value in developing a habit 
of thought-getting, and afterward as auxiliary." 

2. Organisation of the Method. — In its general or- 
ganization the method consists of four parts : (a) 
sight reading; (b) the phonetic drill and the blend; 
(c) the reading in books; (d) writing and spelling. 

a. Sight reading: The method begins by teaching 
a list of about eighty sight words. Typical of these 
are : ail, all, old, an, and, day, ill, take, well, and boy. 
These words are presented in script on the blackboard, 
in short sentences. These sentences, 'T see," "I see 
you," etc., are unrelated, and aim merely to introduce 
the words which are always focal. The words selected 
are such as will lend themselves to useful and varied 
word drills. The drills on these words continue for 
a number of weeks until instantaneous recognition and 
permanent fixation have resulted. The children can 
now read these words from lists on the board, from 
perception cards, or in sentences. 

b. The phonetic drill and the blend: In order to 
teach the child to recognize new words independently, 
the phonetic elements are then introduced. This part 
of the lesson begins with attempts at ear training, in 
which the phonetic element to be taught is introduced 
at various places in a story. The phonogram, e. g., /, 
is either put on the board and the children told its 
sound, or the sight word fold is subjected to analysis 

45 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

and the children made to recognize that the word has 
two parts, //// being the first. The early phonograms 
include /, /, m, n, r, s, a, e, o, ing, ight. 

The constructive part of the lesson is now intro- 
duced. The children, knowing the sounds of m, r, s, 
I, f, ight, are taught to blend these into might, right, 
sight, light, fight, etc. After the phonogram old is 
learned the children blend old elements to produce 
fold, mold, sold, etc. Thus the ear is trained, oral 
speech is improved, phonetic elements are learned, the 
power for independent word reading is given, and the 
basis for more accurate spelling is laid. If the initial 
stock of sight words is well chosen, the child has at 
the end of the first half-year a list of over three hun- 
dred words, which enable him to read with a fair de- 
gree of ease, stories beyond the abilities of children 
who were taught for a whole year by a synthetic 
method. 

c. The book: At the beginning all work is limited 
to script. A transition is now made to the print, 
either by associating print and script forms, or by 
associating print form and' thought. In the former 
procedure the teacher 'jputs on the board, 

and leads the children from the known script to the 
unknown print. In the latter method, the teacher 
prints on the' board, "I see you. Do you see?", and 

46" 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

tells the children what these symbols represent. They 
thus learn the new form, print, by the "look and say" 
method, which taught them the original form, script. 
After a few preliminary transitional drills, the chil- 
dren recognize the print form and read it as readily as 
they do the script. 

All this work in phonetics is taught with diacritical 
marks. The three lines of work, sight words, pho- 
netic analysis, and the blend, are carried on through 
the. first three years. In the early part of the second 
year all the basic phonograms are taught and supple- 
mentary readers are introduced. Toward the end of 
the Second year the diacritical marks are eliminated. 

d. Writing and spelling: Simultaneously with the 
reading the child begins his writing and spelling. The 
method is the same laborious and imitative procedure 
that is prescribed in most methods of primary read- 
ing. It is difficult to understand why spelling which 
is purely formal and has no relation to reading should 
be made part of most reading methods. The inclusion 
of writing at this early stage is justified by the princi- 
ple of motor appeal and multiple sense teaching, but 
the attending dangers are many. Writing entails, too, 
many delicate movements, and too fine a degree of 
coordinaftion to be begun without a specially prepared 
series of graded penmanship drills, designed to develop 
habits of correct posture, form, control, etc. The pen- 
manship drill must be more than a side show of an 
ambitious system of reading. 

3. The Readers. — As is to be expected, a method 

47 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

that centralizes all effort on word recognition presents 
a primer that is dull, meaningless, and often inane. 
The round of foolish repetitions of the Ward primer 
reads, "I see, I see you. Do see, Do see me, Do you 
see me? Do see Jack, What ails the lock?" etc. But 
the later readers and the supplementary books are a 
pleasant and welcome contrast. 

4. Estimate of the Ward Method. — Despite obvious 
limitations the Ward Method shows a step in the right 
direction. It begins with that part of language which 
the child uses, though not with the most vital element 
in the child's speech. It fosters independence in word 
recognition, gives training in better articulation, de- 
velops a more sensitive ear, aids later spelling, and 
does much to reduce the tedium of phonics by its 
careful organization and gradation of the mechanics 
of reading. But we must remember that it is a method 
that is mechanical in its inception and mechanical in 
its whole development. Its highest aims do not tran- 
scend word recognition. It therefore lacks inspira- 
tion and enthusiasm. The only interest it arouses is 
the interest that the pupil feels in his progress. Huey, 
however, says that it is the "most valuable method in 
effect today, though not in line with the changes to 
be urged for the elementary school." 

II. The Sentence or Farnham Method.^ — i. Underly- 
ing Principle. — All sentence methods are based on the 
principle that, in reading, as in all perception, a unit 

* Farnham. "The Sentence Method of Teaching Reading," 
C. W. Bardeen, Syracuse, N. Y. 

48 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

is recognized as a whole, and not by a synthesis of its 
composing elements. If reading is a process of 
thought-getting and thinking, then the unit must be 
an idea. But the language expression of a unit of 
thought is a sentence; hence rational reading must be- 
gin by teaching^^children to read sentences. 

The sentence method found its advocates in Come- 
nius and Jacotot. Not until 1885- 1890 did it gain 
currency in the United States through the efforts of 
Farnham. 

2. The Method. — As elaborated by Farnham, the 
sentence method entails a procedure somewhat as fol- 
lows : The teacher makes sure of a thought basis for 
reading by talking about a number of objects on her 
desk. "What is this?" she asks, holding up a pen, 
and the child answers, "This is a pen." "What have 
you?" she asks, as she makes the child take the next 
object, and the child replies : "I have a knife." After 
a few periods of this concrete language work, the 
teacher writes on the board the answers to these ques- 
tions, and tells the children that she has written what 
they said. Every child knows, therefore, that the first 
sentence reads, "This is a pen," and the second, "I 
have a knife." The teacher now secures smooth and 
easy reading of these two sentences. She points to 
the one and then to the other, and requires the chil- 
dren to give evidence of the idea in each by action 
rather than by reading. The nouns and the pronouns 
are now changed ; the verbs give way to others equally 
appropriate, until the children can read a number of 

49 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

sentences and recognize a long list of useful words. 
In this way the child acquires a stock of sight words. 

3. Estimate of the Sentence Method. — A cursory- 
examination of this outline of the method reveals its 
weaknesses. The daily lessons lack system and grada- 
tion; the sentences are insipid and absolutely unre- 
lated to the child's life. What urgency is there to 
read, "This is a pen"? The method boasts of its em- 
phasis on the objective, but the practical teacher real- 
izes that it is a stupid and unnecessary use of a con- 
crete method. Children who do not know such words 
as pen, knife, I, you, etc., should be taught oral Eng- 
lish, not reading. Farnham himself tells us that in 
this method "the teacher's faith and patience may be 
severely tried." The sentence method teaches us that 
correct reading is reading for thought, but in its prac- 
tical application it becomes as uninspirational as the 
Ward Method, but without the compensating skilful 
and careful gradation. In the final analysis, the 
method is merely an introductory device, for it must 
soon fall back on phonic drills in its endeavor to teach 
independent word recognition. 

4. Modified Sentence Methods. — Huey and McMur- 
ry and other writers have urged modifications of the 
unrelated sentence method. They advise the selection 
of some central theme for the day's reading text. If 
the children have enjoyed unusual exercises in their 
morning assembly this circumstance is made the theme 
for oral composition and self-expression. At the end 
of the period the whole discussion is summarized in 

50 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

five or six short related sentences. These are put on 
the blackboard, and the class has a living and interest- 
ing reading text. The suggestion is valuable, for the 
most enthusiastic reading lessons are often not in the 
book, but find their authorship in the class or the 
teacher. But here, too, we have only a suggestion 
worthy of occasional application, and not a general 
method, for there is no guarantee of either systema- 
tized and progressive work, or of an ability to recog- 
nize new words independently. 

III. The McCloskey Method: The Story Method.^ — 
I. The Plea for the Story. — A system of reading 
whose systematic and graded organization and whose 
serious application of all sound principles of reading 
give it the dignity of a true method, was elaborated by 
Miss Margaret McCloskey. The method begins with 
an eloquent plea for literary appreciation. It studies 
the child at the age when school life begins, and finds 
him at a stage in his language development that is 
characterized by an almost insatiable craving for the 
story, by an imagination that glows in rich imagery 
and lives in fantastic environs of its own making. 
The child approaches the reading book, the source of 
new stories, with all the anticipation that he would 
feel for a gift. How bitter must be the disappoint- 
ment when the child finds in his primer, "Oh, see the 
cat, the black cat," or "Hop and skip," "Skip and 
hop," "Run and jump." If the teacher seeks to re- 
fine the emotions of the child and cultivate its imagina- 

* Margaret McCloskey. "McCloskey Primer," Ginn & Co. 

51 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

tion, then she must begin the reading lessons with a 
story that has Hterary worth. 

2. The Story as the Initial Step in the Reading 
Method. — The McCloskey Method begins its series of 
reading lessons with a cumulative tale that delights 
the child with its round of rhythmic repetitions. The 
teacher prepares the children for the story of the kid 
that *'my father bought for two pieces of money," and 
for the chain of tragedies in which the cat ate the 
kid but was in turn bitten by the dog which was hit 
by the stick which was burned by the fire that was 
put out by the water which was drunk by the ox which 
paid the final penalty when the butcher slew him. The 
informal narrative is followed later in the day by the 
formal story with its rhythmic repetitions of, 

A kid, a kid, my father bought 
For two pieces of money. 

A kid, a kid. 
Then came the cat and ate the kid 
That my father bought 
For two pieces of money, etc. 

A kid, a kid. 

These lines are repeated frequently. By competi- 
tive devices, dramatizations and recitations, the inter- 
est is kept up in the story until it is known by heart. 

The teacher now suggests the pleasure of reading 
such a story by oneself, and thus ofifers motive for the 
first reading lesson. The first sentence is put on the 
blackboard and the children who know it are invited to 

52 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

read what was written. After easy and smooth rendi- 
tion is secured, the pupils learn to recognize father 
by its place in the context, then by comparing the word 
father, written in the corner of the board, with the 
full sentence, and finally when it is shown on a per- 
ception card by itself. The other words are taught in 
the same way until the children can read any sentence 
containing these words, e. g., "For two pieces of 
money my father bought a kid" ; "The cat ate the kid," 
etc. The round of repetitions gives plenty of drill, 
yet the children are not kept too long on one sentence. 
After the first story is thus mastered, word by word, 
two other cumulative tales are taught in the same way 
before the end of the first half year. The children 
are now the proud possessors of an enviable reading 
vocabulary. If the teacher will list all the words in 
these three stories and then do the same to any story 
found in a synthetic method third reader, she will find 
that the children know a stock of sight words that 
enable them to read the story she selected. 

3. The Transition to the Book. — The McCloskey 
Method seeks only one form of association in reading, 
viz., symbol and thought. It is therefore opposed to 
making the transition from script to print by compar- 
ing the two as is done in the Ward Method. It pre- 
sents the story of "The Kid" in print, and teaches the 
child to read this new form in the same way as he 
learned the script. Most authorities sanction both 
forms of transition, i. e., through association of sym- 
bol and idea, and through association of script and 

53 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

print, just as they approve beginning with either print 
or script, since each has its advantages. The only re- 
striction that must be made is the simultaneous presen- 
tation of print and script, for the child is bewildered 
by the multiplicity of symbols. 

4. Phonics. — We have seen, thus far, how this 
method makes reading a process of thinking and em- 
phasizes content rather than form. The author 
of the method realizes the need of phonic work that 
gives the ability to recognize new words, and results 
in better articulation and sharper auditory perceptions. 
With this end in view, the sight words that are known 
are analyzed and the phonograms carefully taught. 
Man gives m and an; rat gives r and at. The child is 
now required to form his own blends of these phono- 
grams to produce the words ran and mat. The work 
in phonics is well graded and thoroughly organized for 
the teacher. The method is therefore well balanced, 
for it realizes the coordinate position that must be 
accorded to the content and the mechanical aim in 
reading. 

5. Language Lessons. — A final endeavor of the 
McCloskey Method seeks to establish an intimate cor- 
relation between reading and oral and written lan- 
guage work. After the third story is well known an 
interesting topic is selected from the reading matter, 
or the child's experience, and 'is used for oral com- 
position. The topic is then suminarized in a few 
sentences, which contain the words that the children 
learned in the course of the reading. By suggesting 

54 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

the desirability of being able to write the subject of 
the day's lesson to a friend, the teacher motivates the 
first lesson in written composition. The introductory 
sentence is written on the board in large, clear charac- 
ters, and the modus operandi is explained. After giv- 
ing a vivid visual impression, the sentence is erased 
and volunteers are called upon to write the sentence. 
In case no child is ready, the same sentence is again 
written on the board, explained and erased until some 
children can reproduce it from memory. A pupil who 
errs in any letter or word must erase his effort and 
try over again until the sentence is written as a whole, 
correct in every respect. At the end of the first period, 
only two or three successful efforts may be found. At 
the end of the third lesson, about twenty children can 
write the introductory sentence. The work continues 
in the same imitative manner, seeking direct associa- 
tion between symbol and idea until the children can 
write the whole composition. A foreign-born gradu- 
ate of the I A class is the proud author of the follow- 
ing composition: 

The Little Hen 

One day a little red hen found corn. She asked the 
cat to help her plant the corn. Then she asked the rat, 
the dog and the pig. All of them would not help her so 
she did it herself. She asked them to help her water 
the corn but they would not. When the meal was baked 
into bread they all wanted to eat it. But the little red 
hen said, "No ! you cannot help me eat it ; I can eat it 
myself." 

55 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

Although the child knows no letters by name, and 
cannot justify the various punctuation signs, capitals, 
indentations, etc., he is learning to use symbols as 
means of expressing his thought. But the teacher 
must not forget the caution that was urged in the 
study of the Ward Method, for such premature ef- 
forts at writing may lead to the development of most 
objectionable habits in penmanship.^ 

6. Estimate of the McCloskey Method. — To answer 
the skeptic who doubts the efficacy of such a method, 
we must urge pragmatic proof. This method is doing 
excellent work in foreign sections of Newark, its peda- 
gogical birthplace, and in New York. Teachers who 
conceive the ultimate aim of reading to be literary ap- 
preciation must approve this system. But the formal- 
ists, on the other hand, can pick no quarrel with such 
a method, for its emphasis on phonic analysis and syn- 
thesis guarantees as great a mastery of the symbols of 
reading as any purely mechanical method like the 
Ward. The strength of the McCloskey Method lies 
in its proportionate emphasis of the two basic aims 
of reading and its skilful application of modern read- 
ing standards. From a narrower aspect, this method 
is not free from faults. Teachers complain that they 
are handicapped because the method is not developed 
beyond the work for the initial year. The absence of 
a printed manual entails unnecessary work by teachers. 
The content is' often ill adapted to the foreign-born 
city child, whose words are few and whose compre- 
* See page 47. 

56 



THE BASIC METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

hension lies wholly within urban topics. The McClos- 
key Primer uses quench, shaven and shorn, forlorn, 
tattered and torn — expressions beyond the pale of 
such children's vocabularies. The stories tell almost 
exclusively of country themes that are not within the 
scope of these children's experience. Not one child in 
fifty in a school in a foreign section of New York 
knew any but the slang meaning of "A kid." These 
mechanical limitations in the organization of the 
method have left gaps that other reading systems have 
very successfully bridged. It is for this reason that 
the "Progressive Road to Reading" bids fair to sup- 
plant the Newark system in New York City schools. 

SUGGESTED READING 

Carpenter, Baker and Scott. Teaching of English, 

98-121. 
Goldwasser, I. E. Method and Methods in the Teach- 
ing of English, chap. II. D. C. Heath & Co. 
Hall, G. Stanley. How to Teach Reading. D. C. 

Heath & Co. 
HuEY, E. B. Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading, 

chaps. X, XI, XII. 
Laing, Mary E. Reading, a Manual for Teachers, 

chaps. VIII, IX. 
McMuRRY, Charles A, Special Method in Reading for 

the Grades. The Macmillan Co. 
Taylor, J. S. Principles and Methods of Teaching 

Reading, chap. V, 109-127. 
Teachers' College Record. January and September, 

1906. 

57 



CHAPTER VI 

SPECIAL MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING^ 

Summary. — The last chapter traced the evolution of 
modern methods of teaching primary children to read. 
The path is long and circuitous, with many pitfalls and 
discouraging features to both children and teacher. 
The synthetic methods made reading a purely mechan- 
ical process, and sought to give the child a perfect 
mastery of symbols. To accomplish this end, they 
began reading with a study of the alphabet, or the 
sounds of the alphabet. Syllables, phonograms, single 
letters, — all were fused into words as soon as possible. 
Early reading began, not with real content and thought 
appeal which give to language a throb of life, but with 
letters and phonograms, the static, stupid phase of 
speech. The child's mind was occupied with the prob- 
lems of first recognizing the phonograms and then 
synthesizing them into real words. When these two 

^ In treating these methods of teaching reading to beginners 
the author merely suggests the underlying principle, the gen- 
eral organization and an estimate of each. Teachers and super- 
visors who desire a more detailed knowledge of any of these 
methods must secure the "Teachers' Manual" by the author of 
the respective method and a full complement of the primers 
and the readers. 

58 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

processes became habit, real reading, reading for 
thought, was introduced. But the exclusive attention 
to word forms and elements of words, the unrelenting 
drills on synthesizing the mechanics of written lan- 
guage made reading so thoroughly formal that true 
reading, reading for thought, was almost completely 
undermined. 

These methods soon caused a reaction when applied 
by intelligent teachers. The habits in reading that the 
children were developing were so positively detrimen- 
tal that methods diametrically opposed to these syn- 
thetic systems were evolved. Reading was now made 
an analytical process; it began with words, or larger 
language units, and only when these were mastered, 
were the study of word formation and the independent 
recognition of new words taught by analyzing the 
sight words already known. But mastery of sight 
words, reading of isolated words, soon became as mo- 
notonous and inane as the reading of syllables and 
phonograms. The desire for thoughtful, expressive 
reading from the very beginning brought a sentence 
method and finally a story method. Only when the 
child can read the sentences naturally and feelingly is 
he taught the component words. But, in reading, the 
sentence is never subordinated to the words in it. 
The child is never allowed to read a sentence unless 
he has read it silently, has asked about any word 
that puzzles him. There must be no hesitation, no 
loss of thought. The words read at sight in sentences 
are then taken up, analyzed into their component 

59 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

sounds and the mechanics of reading taught in special 
drills. 

Modern Methods Tabulated. — In the evolution of pri- 
mary methods that was traced in the last chapter, we 
considered the alphabetic, the phonic, the phonetic, the 
word, the sentence, and the story methods; all these 
passed in review, each making its contribution toward 
the correct method of teaching, each typifying some 
tendency, each embodying a definite principle. These 
methods are the units ; they reflect the types. The list 
of present-day reading methods is long and varied, but 
each reading system is either a combination of two or 
more of the basic methods studied in the preceding 
chapter, or a modification and elaboration of some one 
of them. The following table attempts to classify the 
more popular of the modern methods of teaching 
children to read. The system of grouping is the 
same as that offered in the table on page 36, and 
therefore needs no explanation. A careful analysis 
by the student of the table on page 61 is now ad- 
visable. 

Emma K. Gordon Method.^ — From the table it can be 
seen that no system of reading brought out by enthusi- 
astic teachers can claim the honor of absolute original- 
ity. The Emma K. Gordon "Comprehensive Method" 
and Pollard's "Synthetic Method of Reading and 
Spelling" have little in them that was not noted in 
the analysis of a purely synthetic phonic or phonetic 

*Emma K. Gordon. Comprehensive Method of Teaching 
Reading, D. C. Heath & Co., 1902. 

60 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

Modern Methods of Primary Reading 



Synthetic Methods 



Analytical Methods 



Phonic 



Phonetic 



Formal 



Thought 



Word 



Sentence Unit 



Gordon 
New Educ. 



Pollard 



Farnham 



• *Ward 



fSum 



< JHorace 
Read 



-< tPinger 

■< JAl 



Story Unit 



McCloskey or 
Newark 

Progressive 
Road 

Natural Method 

or Culture 

Primers 

Mann 
ers > 



Play 
dine - 



* A combination word and phonetic method. 
t A cross between a word and a sentence method. 

j May be classified as either sentence or story method because the sentences 
or rhymes are more or less related in thought. 

method. The former begins its system with the behef 
that "thorough work in phonics Hes at the base of all 
rational teaching or reading," and shows the teacher 
how to carry out a severely phonic and synthetic 
method. It boasts of its contempt for diacritical 
marks, of its emphasis on family words, like "talk," 
"chalk," "walk," "balk," of its phonic games which are 
only revivals of those played by Ickelsamer's children 
in the days of 1534. It fails to see that it cannot be 
a "comprehensive method" if it emphasizes form to 
the exclusion of thought. 

Pollard's Synthetic Method.^— In Pollard's "Synthetic 

^ Rebecca S. Pollard. Pollard's Synthetic Method of Reading 
and Spelling, American Book Co., 1889. 

61 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

Method of Reading and Spelling," one finds a method 
that is purely phonetic, "almost arrogantly so." The 
mechanical mastery of words; the constant use of dia- 
critical marks; the use of sound games and phonic 
pictures (/ is the symbol of cats at war, sh of a 
child being put to sleep) ; the personification of the 
letters (small letters are boys, while capitals are men, 
etc.) ; all these are typical of the archaic devices and 
organization to which this method has constant re- 
course. 

Estimate of Gordon and Pollard Methods. — Both 
these methods can teach children to read. But any 
method, or even no method, can ; hence ultimate ability 
to read words and sentences is no criterion. "How 
agreeably, how thoughtfully, how naturally, how 
quickly can they do so?" are the questions that must 
be answered. Despite the fact that these methods are 
(i) systematic, (2) well graded, (3) capable of teach- 
ing children how to attack new words, (4) good for 
ear training and articulation drills, we reject them be- 
cause they are artificial, with a reading matter that is 
flat, stupid and disjointed, and because, in their em- 
phasis on reading as a synthetic process, phonic read- 
ing before word or sentence reading, they are destruc- 
tive of the right habits of reading. 

The New Education Method. — This system of read- 
ing is an excellent example of a modern synthetic 
method. Its sponsors claim for it the dubious honor 
of being the "best of the old," and give assurance that 
it "will teach the child to read." But "to read" is 

62 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

made to mean by them "ability at instant recognition 
of symbols." The method begins with a drill in con- 
sonants, for they are fixed in sound. When the child 
knows the phonic function of all consonants he is 
taught a list of sight words for a mastery of vowels 
and their changing function in varied combinations. 
The method then emphasizes the art of blending; it 
shows the child how ight from Ught and .y from sit 
give sight. This mastery of technique is followed by 
a reading of sentences for expression. There is noth- 
ing "new" nor "educational" in the method. It is a 
well systematized and graded synthetic organization 
that militates against the acquisition of necessary 
habits in thoughtful reading. 

The Maud Summers Method.^ — This method is more 
pretentious and more modern. It endeavors to attain 
a literary level, to teach language, to make reading a 
pleasurable process, but not at the expense of the mas- 
tery of symbols. Its intentions are meritorious, but 
its practical organization often fails to reach this high 
level. 

Underlying Principle of the Summers Method. — 
The method is based on three educational principles, 
which it persistently tries to carry out: (i) Images 
are necessary. The child must have clear images of 
his natural environment, of the elements and condi- 
tions mentioned in the reading matter, otherwise the 
verbal symbols fail to symbolize anything rational. 

^ Maud Summers. The Summers Method, Frank D. Beattys 
Co., N. Y., 1908. 

63 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

(2) The mind recognizes the whole of things before 
its parts. The order of teaching must therefore be 
sentences before words, and words before phonograms. 

(3) The self-activity of the child must always be 
aroused. It is the active cooperation of the child, the 
continued expression of his self-activity which will 
determine not only the thought he acquires, but also 
the mastery of symbols that will be developed. These 
principles determine the organization of the method. 

The Organisation of the Summers Method. — The 
method has two important elements : the thought and 
symbols in reading. 
_Th£j.hought is the most vital factor in reading, for 
the ability to associate symbol and idea is determined 
by the value and the interest which the idea has for 
the child. Thought is emphasized through : ( i ) Ac- 
tion sentences. Dramatization is the important contri- 
bution of this method. Since the child is an intensely 
motor animal, he enjoys acting out his ideas. The 
words and sentences that begin this method are such 
as abound in children's games. (2) Nursery rhymes 
form a second important part of the content of primer 
and blackboard reading. Children have a rhythmic 
sense that is unmistakable in their games, their songs, 
etc. Poetry for the child must not only be rhythmic, 
but it must breathe mystery to stir his imagination. 
Nursery and nonsense rhymes fulfil both of these con- 
ditions. They are learned and recited because they 
train in good articulation, cultivate a cadence in lan- 
guage, and afford pleasurable reading matter. (3) To 

64 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

keep thought in reading uppermost, this method makes 
observational lessons part of the method. What the 
children see and do in their nature-study lessons and 
in the manual training periods is made the topic for 
discussion. This is summarized and becomes the sub- 
ject-matter of the reading lesson from the blackboard. 
The books are replete with illustrations of artistic 
merit, in the hope of making thought and action clear. 
(4) The method, in its literary endeavor, assigns regu- 
lar "Readings by the Teacher to the Class" of those 
stories that form the literary heritage of the race. The 
children listen to these, repeat them, dramatize them, 
and read them, in summarized forms, from the black- 
board. 

The second element of the method deals with the 
"symbols in reading." Although the Summers meth- 
od attempts to attain a literary level, it does not neg- 
lect the mastery of phonograms, which it regards as 
coordinate with thought acquisition. The method 
therefore emphasizes voice and ear training, drills in 
phonic analysis of sight words, practice in synthesizing 
known phonograms, careful gradation and progressive 
repetitions in word building — in short, the varied 
forms of exercises designed to develop mastery in the 
mechanics of reading. 

Estimate of Summers Method. — Despite all its em- 
phasis on thought, this system starts by teaching chil- 
dren a hst of sight words, like "run," "play," "jum.p," 
"hop," words that can be dramatized and used for 
word-building later on. The early reading lacks the 

65 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

natural and interesting content found in later lessons, 
and busies itself with such repetitions as "Run and 
jump," "Sing and jump," "Run and sing," or "Jack, 
run and sing," "I run and sing," etc. Its dramatiza- 
tion often saves it from becoming nothing more than 
a weary word method. 

The Aldine System.^ — Basic Principle. — This meth- 
od, organized by Spalding and Bryce, is another sys- 
tem based on the simple principle that reading 
is a process of thinking which must leave the child 
richer in thought and knowledge. In actual organi- 
zation it wavers between a sentence and a story 
method. 

Organization of the Aldine Method. — This method 
may be divided into five principal elements : ( i ) the 
story introducing the rhyme, (2) the reading of the 
rhyme, (3) the study of the picture, (4) dramatiza- 
tion, (5) phonic analysis and blend. 

I. The story introducing the rhyme: Progress in 
the Aldine Method is measured by the complete mas- 
tery of a set of rhymes used for reading, language 
lessons, dramatizations, phonics and word-building. 
The rhyme is introduced through a story which the 
teacher tells the children ; the story gives an interesting 
background to the rhyme, suggests it a number of 
times, but the tale is not memorized as in the McClos- 
key Method. The first rhyme is introduced by the 
following story, told by the teacher : 

* Spalding and Bryce. The Aldine Readers, Newson & Co., 
N, Y., 1907, 

66 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

The Spring Story 

Once upon a time a little boy and his sister asked 
their mother if they might have some money and go to 
the store and buy some candy. 

"No, dears," answered Mother, "I think you have had 
all the candy that is good for you to-day. Run outdoors 
and play." 

Out walked the two children and sat down on the 
porch. 

"I don't want to play," growled the boy. 

"I think we might just have a little candy," whined 
the girl. So they sat on the porch and pouted. 

The little birds flew from tree to tree, building their 
nests and singing. They were so happy because Spring 
had come. 

The squirrels frisked and chattered on the lawn. They, 
too, were glad the winter was over. 

Even the yellow daffodils in the garden looked up and 
smiled at the warm sun. 

Everyone seemed happy but our pouting boy and 
girl. 

Along the street came a crowd of boys and girls, run- 
ning, laughing and shouting. They were just as happy 
as the birds and squirrels. 

When they saw the cross little boy and girl, they 
shouted : "Stop pouting. Don't you know Spring is here ? 
Now is the time to play and be glad." 

Then a big girl, who was leading, called : 

"Come away, 
Come and play." 

67 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 
All the children took up the cry, and shouted: 

"Come away, 
Come and play." 

They were having such a good time that our boy and 
girl could feel cross no longer. Smiles chased the frowns 
from their faces. They jumped up and ran off with the 
other children, laughing and singing: 

"Come away, 
Come and play." 

2. The reading of the rhyme: The rhyme is now 
memorized, read in script from the board, from printed 
charts and from cards placed in the hands of the chil- 
dren. "Come away, Come and play," "Run with me, 
To the tree," etc., are examples. The reading must 
be smooth, easy, rapid and thoughtful. 

3. The study of the picture: To make the thought 
stand out more vividly each lesson has its picture. 
These children are allowed to study in an attempt to 
infer the story. The pictures are artistic and are thus 
a source of keen pleasure. Detailed questions, asked 
by the teacher, elicit a series of answers which give 
thought background to the rhyme and serve as exer- 
cises in oral composition. 

4. Dramatization: To make the reading more nat- 
ural, and prevent stilted classroom rendition, every 
stanza is dramatized as it is read. In the case of the 
first rhyme, "Come away, Come and play," one pupil 
is designated as a leader. This child skips through 

68 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

the aisles, choosing his companions by touching each 
and calHng, "Come away, Come and play." 

5. Phonic analysis and blend. — The sight words 
thus learned through the rhymes are now analyzed, 
and thus become a valuable basis for phonetic drills. 
The consonants are taught separately by consonant 
cards, in association with a sight word; one side of 



the card is 1 «■<;" 1 ^"d the reverse side is I p 



If the child cannot sound R, he is shown the side that 
has the word "run" on it. The vowels, on the other 
hand, are not taught alone, since they vary and take 
their sound from the group in which they are found. 
From the stock of initial sight words the children build 
a list four or five times as long as the original one; 
thus, the ome of come enables them to get some and 
likewise run gives gun, fun, sun, etc. They also learn 
to analyze new words phonetically. The method is 
exceedingly well organized, moves along rapidly, and 
has a complete equipment of reading charts, phonic 
charts, etc., which are not only designed for class 
reading, but also for profitable individual seat work. 
Estimate of the Aldine Method. — An analysis of the 
organization of this Aldine system shows that it is a 
skillful attempt to embody all those principles which 
seek to make reading synonymous with thought get- 
ting. It begins at the point where reading touches the 
child — the story. The cadence of the basic rhymes 
which appeals to the child's innate sense of rhythm is 
seized on as a means of teaching children a useful 
stock of sight words in rational and pleasing associa- 

69 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

tion. But independent word recognition is steadily 
kept in view ; a carefully planned series of phonic exer- 
cises achieves this end. When followed by an enthusi- 
astic teacher the results are gratifying indeed. The 
manual is a good treatise on reading, and the primers 
are well organized and illustrated. The great danger 
of the system is that, in the hands of a dispirited 
teacher, it degenerates into a stupid sentence method. 
In the final analysis the Aldine Method is a sentence 
method; only the skilful handling of the introductory 
stories by the teacher saves it from the weaknesses in- 
herent in a pure sentence method. 

The Finger-play Method.^ — Its Underlying Principle. 
— Another system, closely allied to the Aldine Method, 
is the Davis-Julien Finger Play Method. It, too, be- 
gins with the hypothesis that, to read for thought, one 
must begin with thought. The foundation of the 
reading matter is a series of rhymes, based on familiar 
nature facts, and used in connection with finger plays. 
But, unlike the McCloskey Method, the purpose of 
this system "is not to gain memorized reading, but to 
acquire independence through power in phonics." The 
reading text is, therefore, only a natural means of in- 
troducing phonics. 

Organization of the Finger Play Method. — The 
Finger Play Method has four important components : 
(i) the thought basis, (2) sight reading, (3) pho- 
nics, (4) extensive correlation. 

* Davis and Julien. Finger Play Readers, D. C. Heath & Co., 
1909. 

70 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

1. The thought basis: Unlike the Ward Method, 
no list of unrelated sight words is used to introduce 
the child to sight reading. The charming story of the 
life and work of the bee forms the initial lesson in 
reading. The beehive is brought into the room, the 
bees themselves are the all-absorbing topic of the day, 
and their very song is sung. Any sentence about bees 
that the children invent to express their interest in the 
lesson is written on the board by the teacher, and is 
read by them after her. At the end of the first lesson, 
the class can read bee and beehive, distinguishing 
them by their varying lengths. The succeeding lessons 
begin with the song of the bees, or the game of the 
children in the beehive, as they recite the first rhyme, 
"Here is the beehive. Where are the bees? Hidden 
away where nobody sees." The children, then closing 
their fingers into a fist, continue: "Soon they come 
creeping out of the hive, one, two, three, four, five" ; 
at each count a finger is opened, until the five bees fly 
away. A dramatization, in which all the children save 
five form a beehive and allow the five bees to fly away 
as they recite the complete rhyme, is one of many 
pleasant devices of the method. 

2. Sight reading: The sight reading follows, in the 
main, the procedure noted in other systems. The 
rhyme is mastered first, then phrases, words, sounds, 
and their reconstruction into words, form the order of 
succession. 

3. Phonics: The Finger Play Method, unlike other 
methods, begins its phonic work at once. The first 

71 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

sight word, bee, is used as a basis for phonic analysis 
into b and ee, and for their phonic synthesis into bee. 
The work in phonics is well graded in progressive 
repetitions and is designed, by the end of the term, to 
give the child a knowledge of most of the useful pho- 
nograms, and to develop a gratifying ability in phonic 
analyses and blends. 

4. Extensive correlation: Another strong element 
in the organization of this method is its extensive cor- 
relation. Music is made a helpful basis in phonic exer- 
cises; a living interest in nature is developed through 
its nature-study context ; building the beehive, folding 
papers into "chicadees," etc., numerous drawings, are 
forms of manual training that afford excellent seat 
work ; the games and the dramatizations are pleasant 
forms of physical exercise for the children; the early 
emphasis on writing is another link in the long chain 
of correlations. 

Estimate of Finger Play Method. — Stripped of all 
its devices, this method is really an analytic-phonic 
reading system. The first concern of the authors 
seems to be to evolve a series of well-selected and 
graded phonograms; their second concern is to fit an 
agreeable subject-matter to these phonic elements. 
Through songs, games, dramatizations, manual work, 
and nature appeals, the content is skillfully made to 
cover the early phonic structure. Some teachers com- 
plain that in the latter part of the primer the round of 
repetitions grows monotonous. But these graded rep- 
etitions insure early independent reading, so that the 

72 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

children are soon ready for supplementary texts and 
varied reading matter. The later readers are excel- 
lent in content, organization and artistic design. The 
illustrations are superb. 

The Horace Mann System.* — Basic Principle. — The 
latest method of reading which is attracting attention 
is the Horace Mann System. We must consider it 
carefully, in order to place it properly in the list of 
methods for primary reading. Its underlying princi- 
ple is, "Let thought lead. . . . Reading, after all, is 
an affair of thought, imagination, emotion, and ex- 
pression." Not only are the initial sentences related 
in thought, but the successive lessons are so interre- 
lated in theme and vocabulary that they are designed 
to promote "constructive thinking." 

Organisation of the Horace Mann System. — From 
the very beginning the teacher is cautioned to see that 
all reading is properly motivated for the children, i. e., 
that they feel a personal hunger to read; that they 
know the words reasonably well; that the theme is 
part of their experiences and cravings ; that the prepar- 
ation reveals only that which will stir curiosity, but 
conceals enough to lead them to "read to learn," rather 
than to "learn to read." 

The reading text is introduced through various 
media, each of which guarantees an interesting thought 
Jjasis. In one situation, the medium may be a Label- 
ing Process. A picture or an object with its descrip- 

* Hervey and Hix. The Horace Mann Readers, Longmans, 
Green, & Co., 1912. 

72 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

tive words is hung before the class. In the ensuing 
language lesson the teacher leads the class to associate 
the symbols with their objects. In the next lesson the 
symbols recall their respective objects. Story-telling, 
in which the teacher puts recurring sentences or 
phrases on the board, is another device for introduc- 
ing sight reading. The natural repetition of these 
expressions affords a drill which enables children to 
recognize, first, the sentence or phrase, and then the 
component words. Reading by Position is also used. 
A known rhyme is read and the words are learned by 
their position in the memorized context. Silent Read- 
ing is still another form of sight reading. A given 
sentence is put on the board. If it is a command, the 
teacher executes it and the children infer what the 
written sentence says. If it is a question, the teacher 
answers it, and the children construct the interroga- 
tion. Context Reading, in which the children read a 
sentence of known words and supply an omitted 
word, is a favorite means of teaching new sight 
words. Games and songs, in which rhymes or 
stanzas are learned, afford excellent means of memo- 
rizing texts, which are read, as in the other systems, 
at sight. 

In every lesson there is, therefore, a thought basis 
for sight reading, and every means has been taken to 
make the reading expressive and the phrasing correct 
before phonic analysis receives attention. This method 
then posits the principle that to neglect phonics is 
to fail to develop independent reading; to focalize 

74 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

phonics is to develop ability to recognize words but 
not to read. Having made reading an "affair of 
thought," it now concerns itself with organizing, grad- 
ing, and vitalizing phonic elements. All phonograms 
find their origin in the reading text, and receive ample 
drills through wise repetitions in succeeding reading 
matter. Drills in ear training, enunciation, phonic 
analysis, and synthesis are integral parts of each of 
the progressive series of lessons. However, this meth- 
od does not place emphasis upon learning to recognize 
the greatest possible number of sight words, but 
rather on the power to work out new words inde- 
pendently. 

Estimate of Horace Mann System. — This bold out- 
line of the organization of this reading method shows 
that it, contains no new theory nor a new suggestion to 
modern methodology. All that it attempts to do has 
been done by reading systems in use today. But its 
eclectic character, its wise application of all sound 
principles and devices for teaching reading, its con- 
sistent call on the child's self -activity, its graded and 
applied work in phonics, and its excellent manual, 
which is a treatise on reading, will undoubtedly lead 
to its adoption, and enable it to achieve successful re- 
sults. 

The Progressive Road to Reading.^ — Underlying Prin- 
ciple. — A system of reading unanimously praised by 
those who use it is the "Progressive Road to Reading." 

1 Shimer, Ettinger and Burchill : "The Progressive Road to 
Reading," Silver, Burdett & Co. 

75 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

Like the "Natural Method" (Culture Primers),^ it is 
an extended and systematic application of the princi- 
ples and organization as worked out in the story 
method of Miss Margaret McCloskey. 

Organisation of the "Progressive Road to Read- 
ing." — I. The teaching of the story: The teaching 
of the basic story comes first. The cumulative story 
of the "Hen and the Bag of Flour" is told by 
the teacher, then made the subject of conversa- 
tion lessons, and finally reproduced by the children, 
with the aid of appropriate dramatizations. The 
blackboard wgrk is now introduced. The first sen- 
tence, printed qn the board or on a chart, is read, as 
a sentence, then verbal relations are recognized. The 
children learn independent word recognition (i) by 
the position of the word in a known sentence, (2) by 
comparison with the same word in the known sen- 
tence, and (3) by reading new sentences from old 
words. To illustrate: The known sentence is, "A 
hen had a bag of flour." The children learn the word 
"hen" by its position in the sentence ; hen is the second 
word. At a later stage in the drill the teacher has the 
sentence on one board and the word hen on another. 
The children look at the isolated word hen, then at 
the sentence, and se6 that the lone word hen looks like 
the second word in the sentence. When mastery of 
all the words in the sentence is thus attained, new sen- 
tences are constructed by the teacher and the children 

*Mrs. Ellen Kenyon-Warner. The Culture Primers (Nat- 
ural Method), C. E. Merrill Co. 

76 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

are called upon to read these. '^'She tried to carry it 
home herself becomes "She herself tried to carry it 
home"; this in turn is changed to "The hen tried to 
carry the bag of flour home herself." So, too, the 
sentence, "But the hen said 'no,' " becomes succes- 
sively, '' 'No' said the hen," "The hen herself said, 
'No; " "Said the hen, 'No,' " "The hen said, 'No.' " 
Rote work is thus guarded against very successfully. 
Each child whispers the sentence to the teacher, and 
is placed in one of three sections, depending upon 
his ability. 

2. Phonics: The second part of the method deals 
with the problem of phonics. The procedure is the 
same as in the McCloskey Method. The sight words 
afford the basis for phonic exercises. These words 
are analyzed ; the component phonograms are studied 
and then blended. Thus, hen gives "en" ; the "p," the 
"t," the "d," the "m" are brought from other words, 
and the child learns to read pen, ten, den, men. In this 
way the ear is trained, the ability to read new words 
is given, and the children are prepared for spelling. 

3. The written language: The third part of the 
method, like the McCloskey Method, deals with "writ- 
ten language." Each grade teaches the writing of 
words and of sentences. A word like "it" is put on 
the board, explained, written again and again, erased, 
and then the children imitate it. Then on, no, me, so, 
will, etc., are added. New words are built on these; 
"will" gives sill, till, bill, kill, etc. When enough 
words are mastered, they are joined irito short sen- 

77 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

tences. These are put on the board, the children study 
them, and, after they are erased, they imitate them. 
If the children fail, the sentence is again put on the 
board, again visualized, and again erased. Pupils once 
more attempt a complete reproduction. The results 
of this written work were noted and discussed in a 
previous connection.^ 

Estimate of the "Progressive Road" Method. — The 
method is sound theoretically, thoroughly modern in 
spirit, and well graded in organization. Although in 
the final analysis it is very similar to the Newark or 
McCloskey method, it is more enthusiastically re- 
ceived by teachers because it has a better selection of 
stories, is more systematic, continues its plan for 
longer than the first year, and offers a carefully elabo- 
rated manual, which readily guides the teacher inex- 
perienced in teaching primary reading. 

How to Judge Any System of Reading. — In this hasty 
survey of the various systems of primary reading no 
attempt was made to study each in detail. The teacher 
who is teaching by any one of these methods will find 
every step well developed, illustrated, graded, and ex- 
plained in its respective manual. These manuals are 
often excellent treatises on the subject of primary 
reading. The aim of this and the preceding chapter 
was merely to give the point of view, the classifica- 
tion, and the final justification of each method. No 
one method is recommended, for the choice of a sys- 
tem of reading must be made by the teachers in con- 
* See page 55. 

78 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

ference with their principal. It is necessary, there- 
fore, to suggest an outline of study that teachers 
should follow who are sincerely searching for a read- 
ing system that will most efficiently meet their prob- 
lem and the children's needs. The following is sug- 
gested : 

In studying a method of primary reading, we ask: 

1. What is its basic theory, or underlying principle? 

2. How should it be classified ? 

3. What is the method? 

a. What is its procedure in reading for 

thought? In developing independent 
reading through power in phonics ? Are 
these two aims rationally balanced? 

b. What device does it use, not found in other 

systems ? 

c. What equipment does it necessitate — charts, 

cards, pictures, etc. ? 

d. Does it provide a manual for the teacher? 

4. Primers and Readers? 

a. Content Aspect : Has content any relation 

to child's life? 

b. Formal Aspect: Are they graded, progres- 

sive, within the comprehension of the 
children? Is phonics well treated and 
duly emphasized? 

c. Pedagogical Aspect : Well illustrated ? De- 

signed to arouse an interest in good 
reading? 

79 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

d. Hygienic Aspect : Do they meet hygienic 

requirements ? 

e. Later Readers and Supplementary Readers : 

Are they literary in aim and content? 
Progressive and graded? Do they in- 
spire love for reading? 

5. Is the method as elaborated consistent with its 

theory? Does it accomplish its object? 

6. How does it compare with others? 

a. In speedy results in mechanics of reading? 

b. In arousing activity of children and their 

love for reading? 

c. In arousing interest in teachers, etc. ? 

d. In developing independent reading through 

power of phonics? 

e. In developing habits of thought acquisition 

in reading? 

7. Criticism? 

a. Points in its favor? 

b. Its limitations? 

c. Is the method in harmony with the best the- 

ories of the psychology, pedagogy, and 
hygiene of reading? 

Conclusion. — The skeptic asks, "Why all these peda- 
gogical inventions ; did not the old alphabetic method 
teach humanity how to read?" The alphabetic method 
did teach us how to read, but it cheated the child of 
the joy of the story for many years, and, in the end, 
often made him a lip reader, or a ponderous word 

80 



MODERN METHODS OF PRIMARY READING 

reader. It is for these reasons that we seek a method 
which makes reading a thought process, and makes 
the initial lesson a delight to the story-loving child.^ 

SUGGESTED READING 

Bayles, Martha B. McCloskey Method of Teaching 

Reading. School Work, vi, No. 3. 
Griffin, Susie A. Ward Method of Teaching Reading. 

School Work, vii. No. i. 
Hagar, Caroline. The Aldine Method of Teaching 

Reading. School Work, vii. No. 3. 
HuEY, E. B. Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading, 

chaps. XIV, XVII, XVIII. 
Hughes, James L. Teaching to Read. A. S. Barnes 

&Co. 
Karr, Grant. Summers Method of Teaching Reading. 

School Work, viii. No. 2. 
Kenyon-Warner, E. E. Natural Method in Reading. 

School Work,, vii. No. 4. 
Laing, Mary E. Reading, a Manual for Teachers, 

chap. IX. 
McMurry, Charles A. Special Method in Reading for 

the Grades. The Macmillan Co. 
Mount, Christiana. New Education Method of Read- 
ing. School Work, viii. No. i. 

* Two methods that have been published very recently promise 
to be received with favor. These are "The Story Hour Readers" 
by Coe and Christie (American Book Co.), and "The Natural 
Method Readers" by McManus and Haaren (Charles Scribner's 
Sons). The author knows these two methods only from their 
respective manuals, and cannot, therefore, treat these methods 
as fully as he did the others, which he has seen in operation and 
on which he has had conferences with teachers who teach them. 

81 



CHAPTER VII 

THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 
A. THE FEIMES 

Development of the Primer. — A system of reading, 
planned from the point of view of the child, embody- 
ing all the tendencies indicated by sound psychology, 
often fails because of the limitations of its reading 
matter. Primers have too often been written to meet 
the needs of the method, to supply words for the pho- 
nic exercises, to sound an ethical platitude, or to state 
a patriotic sentiment. They are seldom written from a 
sympathetic study of the life, the interests and the ex- 
periences of the children whom they are to inspire. It 
is interesting to trace the growth of primers from the 
early New England forms, in which the governing 
object was to give the child religious and moral in- 
struction or elaborations of the copybook maxims, to 
the best of our day, which seek to present reading 
matter that is simple in thought and form, intimate 
in its relation to child life and child cravings, and 
valuable from the point of view of literature itself. 

Characteristics of a Good Primer. — A model primer 
meets certain primary demands in content and in me- 
chanical organization. Let us turn to each. 

82 



I 



THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 

I. Content of the Primer. — The primary requisite 
of the content of a primer or an early reader is that 
it should be good literature. Children should be given 
reading matter that is worth while, for its own sake. 
An examination of the flat, insipid, uninspiring sub- 
ject-matter of the average primer shows at once how 
many reading systems are hopeless from the very be- 
ginning. Although the content must be within the 
child's sphere of comprehension and interests, it should 
be decidedly above his level of style, expression, and 
language possessions. 

A second characteristic of proper reading content is 
that it should be varied. When we scan the wide field 
of possibilities we readily realize how easily this sec- 
ond requisite can be incorporated. In brief, what can 
be included in this early reading matter? We may 
include the following : 

a. The nursery rhymes that have stood the test of 
time make delightful content; they are loved by the 
children, they develop a language cadence and a sense 
of rhythm; they are adaptable for play and drama- 
tization. 

b. Personal stories of class and school life and ex- 
perience should come next as part of the reading mat- 
ter. Any event in the day's experience about which 
the children are enthusiastic should become the basis 
of that day's reading matter. After discussion by the 
children, the teacher puts the reading lesson on the 
board, and frames it in terms of words, expressions 
and phonetic elements that are known. The most de- 

83 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

lightful reading lessons are not . printed in books. 
They are outgrowths of class life and find their au- 
thorship in the teacher. 

c. Fairy tales offer the next contribution to content. 
If there were no other justification for their introduc- 
tion it would suffice to say that children love them. 
They are most germane to the child's interests. They 
are a source of infinite joy, because they color with 
poetic charm the common human- virtues ; "they pre- 
sent truth through the guise of images." The stories 
of "The Ugly Duckling," or of "Cinderella," are illus- 
trations of the ingenious teaching and the poetic con- 
ception of everyday faults and virtues. These stories 
feed a glowing imagination and answer the cultural 
needs of later life, for they recur in music, in painting, 
in sculpture, and in adult literature. 

d. Animal and nature stories receive a hearty re- 
sponse from the children. The child is interested in 
living nature next to real humanity. These stories 
must be literature first and science second. The ani- 
mal or the plant must be humanized, it must be imbued 
with the same yearnings, the same loves and hates and 
temptations as the child himself feels, if it is to become 
part of an agreeable reading content. 

e. Folk tales and fables come next in the list of 
varied elements in the reading content. They contain 
in simple form a liberal stock of the world's wisdom, 
given not in the form of moral talks, but through real 
actors, usually through an animal as the agent. The 
ethical lessons are usually effective, because the moral 

84 



THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 

situations picture concretely and with a tinge of 
humor, the inevitable results of greed, selfishness, 
kindness, cruelty, or truthfulness. The moral conclu- 
sions are of a worldly sort, exceedingly practical and 
far from the lofty and impossible levels of the aver- 
age ethics lessons. This accounts for the general dis- 
repute into which the fable has fallen. Dr. Adler 
thinks they are of dubious merit and fraught with 
danger, for they inspire in the child respect for cun- 
ning and craftiness. But every situation that is prob- 
lematical in its nature is liable to misinterpretation by 
the immature child unless the teacher, by skilful ques- 
tions or suggestions, undermines the wrong attitude. 

f. Cumulative tales, with the rhythmic round of 
repetitions of the type of "A Kid," "The House That 
Jack Built," have a legitimate place in the primer. The 
constant repetitions afford a means of ready and nat- 
ural retention with minimum effort, for the repetitions 
are not indulged in for the sake of reiteration, but are 
part of the story itself; their cadence and rhythmic 
appeal are added factors in producing more permanent 
impressions. The humorous and the human elements 
in these stories guarantee an enthusiastic reception by 
the children. 

g. The humorous story is another element in early 
reading content that is conspicuous by its absence. The 
humor of these stories is a tonic to the nerves, for it 
has a relaxing property. "The delicious shock of sur- 
prise at every 'funny spot' is a kind of electric treat- 
ment to the nerves." The list for reading cannot be 

85 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

complete unless we include the dramatic stories that 
make the nerves tense and suspend the breath, the 
Bible stories, with their delightful narratives free 
from moralizations, myths, and the host of stories, 
legends, traditions, that have been a joy and an in- 
spiration to successive generations of youth with vo- 
racious literary cravings. 

A third requisite of the content of primers is that 
early reading must be well illustrated. The picture, in 
a good reading system, is often an integral part of 
the reading method. It must, therefore, be artistic in 
drawing, form and color, even when judged by adult 
standards. We must discard the cheap cuts that are 
scattered haphazard throughout the books to relieve 
the monotony of print and swell the number of pages. 
The illustrations must be full of action, must arouse 
constructive fancy and prompt rich and productive 
imagery in the minds of the children. 

But the developing mind of the prepubescent or the 
pubescent in the grammar grades makes unnecessary 
elaborate and numerous illustrations. Used with in- 
judicious frequency, these graphic appeals are positive 
dangers. They weaken imagination by giving it un- 
due aid ; they prevent the artist in the child's mind 
from painting his own picture by restricting him to 
what the eye sees ; "they appeal to the senses, where 
mind and heart should be touched." 

The fourth requisite of the content of the primer 
demands that the theme of the reading matter be ad- 
justed to the experience o^ the child. A general con- 

86 



THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 

tent will not suit all children ; there must be a wise and 
discriminating organization so that content most nat- 
ural to city children will not be imposed on country 
children, and vice versa. Too often the content un- 
duly transcends the circumference of the child's exper- 
ience. The best of the most extensively used primers 
are found to contain stories and reading matter deal- 
ing with the cultivation of soil, the products of garden 
and orchard, the habits of common animals, etc., 
concepts that are native to children in rural sections, 
but foreign to their city cousins. An examination into 
the content of the minds of children brought these 
remarkable figures : 54 per cent, of the children in a 
school did not know a sheep; 18 per cent., a cow; 52 
per cent., a bee; 19 per cent., a hen; 50 per cent., a 
squirrel; 70 per cent., a snail. Nevertheless, the read- 
ing content of their primers assumed a first-hand 
knowledge of these nature facts. While the reading 
matter should widen the child's horizon, it is evident 
that the pupil must be taken out of his sphere of ex- 
perience gradually and with due preparation. 

2. Mechanics of the Primer. — But there is a second 
side to the organization of the primer. Not only must 
the content be literary, but it must be designed to de- 
velop ability to extract thought when new words or 
new combinations of phonic elements occur. The 
primer must meet these mechanical requisites if it is 
to develop independent reading. To these we must 
now turn. 

First, there must be repetition to insure mastery of 

87 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

form. The reading matter must be so framed that the 
same words occur again and again, and new words are 
introduced that are built on the same basal phono- 
gram. But at no time must repetition be secured at 
the price of literary content. Such text as "What ails 
the lock? Why do you fail to see the tails of the 
flock ?" shows an attempt to reduce the phonic elements 
ail and ock to habit, but the exercise is only a phonic 
drill, and cannot attain the dignity of a reading lesson. 
A cumulative tale in the McCloskey Primer, or in the 
"Progressive Road to Reading," is an illustration of 
content designed to give necessary repetitions without 
sacrificing form to thought. 

Secondly, phonic difficulties must be well graded. 
Each new lesson and each succeeding story must not 
only introduce a new set of words having the same 
family trait, but must also repeat preceding words and 
utilize old phonograms until their recognition is in- 
stantaneous. The forms in reading must be reduced 
to habit; habit knows only one price, repetition. 

Finally, the primer must meet the hygienic requi- 
sites that were outlined in a previous discussion. The 
illustrations must be so placed that they allow for a 
fair degree of uniformity in the length of lines; the 
lines must not be long; the type must be of standard 
size, and the paper must be of a white or yellowish 
tint, and completely free of gloss. 

Conclusion. — The primary teacher reviewing this 
long list of requisites may feel discouraged when she 
seeks them in the books given to her class. The limi- 

88 



THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 

tations in the content can be counteracted, however, 
for blackboard and charts can be used frequently to 
give better subject-matter. But, although nothing can 
be done if the book is wrong in its mechanical or- 
ganization, it is, nevertheless, worth knowing the limi- 
tations under which we labor, for only then are we 
ready to demand intelligent reform. 

B. READING TO PUPILS 

Value of Systematic Reading to Pupils. — An excellent 
method of developing a literary sense in children is 
to bring them into contact with as much appropriate 
literature as possible from the very beginning of the 
school course. The formal reading periods are usually 
governed by specific difficulties of technical English, 
and do not allow the teacher to give the class more 
than a glimpse of the vast literary treasures in store 
for them. Only by systematic reading to pupils can 
we give them that acquaintanceship with literature that 
develops a sense of appreciation for literary master- 
pieces. Such an interest in literature gives excellent 
occupation for leisure hours, teaches a new means of 
recreation, cultivates imagination, refines emotions, 
and creates ideals of right living. Reading to chil- 
dren gives them not only this wider knowledge of liter- 
ature, but presents to them models of correct speech. 
It is evident, then, that reading to children must not 
degenerate into a mere pastime, nor be indulged in 
spasmodically at the passing whim of the teacher, or 

89 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

as a means of relieving the mental ennui of the chil- 
dren. Part of the general reading course must assign 
systematic, regular and graded material to be read by 
the teachers to pupils in every class. 

Suggestion to Teachers in Reading to Children i. 

These values of reading to children cannot be realized 
unless the teacher sets up a definite aim in each selec- 
tion and then tries to realize it. Thus, one selection is 
read because its dialogue affords the teacher an oppor- 
tunity of offering the class a good model of oral read- 
ing, another, because of the ethical principle which is 
so vividly taught, or another, because it is a good 
means of introducing children to a type of story, or 
to the works of a particular writer. The aim gives 
method and meaning to each period. 

2. In reading to children, teachers must make a 
practice of stopping at logical pauses and questioning 
the class on the content. If the pupils remember the 
phraseology of the text, they should be allowed to use 
it in their answers. In addition to making for greater 
familiarity with the material presented, this question- 
ing enriches the children's vocabularies. 

3. As far as possible, the child should be more than 
a passive listener throughout the reading. Dramatiza- 
tions, pictorial representations, and oral discussions, 
are forms of expression that should be required of 
children to make them active agents in the lesson. 

4. In all questioning the teacher must not allow the 
period to degenerate into an informal one designed to 
elaborate the work of geography, history, or nature 

90 



THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 

study. The distinctive characteristic of this reading 
must be its literary spirit. 

5. In all reading great care should be given to clear- 
ness of articulation and enunciation. Sounds incor- 
rectly uttered by the children should be exaggerated 
in correctness by the teacher so that each child's ear 
reverberates with the correct auditory impression. 

6. In reading to the class the teacher's eyes must 
not be riveted on the book. There must be enough 
familiarity with the matter read to enable the teacher 
to look from the page to the class. The changes in 
facial expression and the appeal of the eyes enable the 
story to "come across" and make for a sympathetic 
response from the children. 

7. At times the teacher may be relieved from con- 
tinued oral reading by a pupil, but in all such cases 
only the best readers should be called. 

Suggestions for Supervising "Reading to Children." 
— If interest is to be maintained, and the children are 
to derive^er fund of values that were ascribed to 
"reading to children," supervisors must see that these 
readings are systematic, graded and varied through- 
out the course. It is not unusual to see daily sched- 
ules of primary classes with no provision for reading 
to children. These periods must be as definitely indi- 
cated as others. Supervisors allow each teacher to 
read what seems appropriate to her; the inevitable 
result is lack of gradation and duplications in succes- 
sive grades. It is the duty of the supervisor to collect 
as many sources of reading material as possible; appli- 

91 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

cation to the nearest library authorities will usually 
bring a host of titles of appropriate readings. Each 
teacher is then invited to select from these recom- 
mendations what she considers best suited to her 
grade; this becomes the assignment for her class for 
the school term. At the end of the term each teacher 
criticizes the assignments, indicating those that were 
found uninteresting, or too difficult, or too simple, or 
better suited for another grade. The supervisor must 
correct the assignments in the light of the experience 
of the teachers and her personal judgment. The sec- 
ond term finds a more favorable allotment of material 
in each grade. In this manner the "reading to chil- 
dren" becomes graded, systematic, and varied, and 
thus contributes liberally to each child's literary stock. 

C. TELLING STORIES TO CHILDREN 

The Dignity of Story-telling. — The poet who laments 
"The days of minstrelsy are gone" expresses for youth 
its deep sense of loss. Every child is a romanticist, 
in whose life the minstrel occupies an exalted place, 
satisfying a deep-seated love for story, which is part 
of childhood itself. Story-telling has, therefore, a 
dignity and an importance all its own. It is an art 
that few teachers possess and many must cultivate. 
The art of story-telling must be emphasized in the 
classroom today, because there is vital need of giving 
our children part of their heritage of literary lore 
long before they are introduced to the symbols of read- 

92 



THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 

ing. The more the love of story is strengthened, the 
more eager does the child become to satisfy it. 
Hence, when the child is old enough to learn to read, 
he finds urgent motive for mastering symbols and 
phonic elements, for these he regards as the path to 
new joys — new stories. Secondly, the story is a vital 
part of many methods of teaching reading to begin- 
ners. Unless the story is told well in a method like 
the McCloskey, or the Progressive Road, or the Al- 
dine, the spirit of intense pleasure and anticipation is 
lost, and the work becomes the same arduous task as 
in the other methods. 

Purposes of Story-telling. — But story-telling, like any 
part of classroom work, has its definite purposes. 
What ends must we have in view in telling the chil- 
dren a series of selected stories ? 

1. Our first aim and the object that should be part 
of every story period is to give the child the joy to be 
found in our literary possessions. A story, like any 
other literary form, is basically a work of art; the 
justification for the art element in the curriculum is 
the justification of the story. Pleasure is hence its 
keynote. The story plays an important part in the 
game of life, its function being to add the spirit of 
excitement, beauty, and emotional strain, to life's rou- 
tine. Pleasure, not instruction, is the message of the 
story. "The story must enlarge and enrich the spir- 
itual possessions of the child." 

2. A second aim of the story may be the informa- 
tional end. But this must be incidental and thor- 

93 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

oughly subordinated to the former. It must be both 
secondary and implied. One learns history, sociology, 
psychology, etc., from the drama and the novel, but 
this aspect in these literary forms is neither vital nor 
basic. 

3. The story may well be used as a means of giving 
relief from classroom intensity. At the end of a regu- 
lar physical training lesson, with its demand for uni- 
formity, close attention, keen concentration, and readi- 
ness for instantaneous response the child may be just 
as fatigued mentally as before the lesson. The story 
brings complete relief and it relaxes the strained 
nerves. This complete relief serves to intensify con- 
centration when work is resumed. 

4. A story is often the best medium of establishing 
a bond of sympathy between children and teacher. It 
is an effective instrument for creating the necessary 
"rapport" ; it is an "open sesame" to the heart of 
children. Many a sad substitute teacher has found 
the story the best means of introducing herself to 
the class and seizing hold of the situation. 

5. The story is an excellent medium by means of 
which the power of sustained attention can be devel- 
oped in the children. Their fleeting interests, their 
evanescent joys, must become long-lived; these shift- 
ing mental activities must be sustained until they can 
carry the child to a desired end. What better means 
to introduce sustained attention in the child's mental 
life than the story? 

6. As a means of developing the expressional pow- 

94 



THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 

ers of the children, the story has no equal. The 
teacher of composition in the primary grades finds 
that the children's natural timidity and backwardness, 
their self-consciousness, form the first serious diffi- 
culty. The story enlists their interests, they become 
absorbed in it, and, for the time being, forget them- 
selves. Spontaneous expression is now made possible. 
What forms of expression shall we demand? In the 
main any one of the following three ways will suffice : 
Mere retelling in the child's own words, even with a 
touch of originality as to details and sequence, is one 
way. Pictorial illustration is a second mode of ex- 
pression. Where drawing in the early classes is taught 
as a form of composition, a medium for the expres- 
sion of one's thoughts in graphic rather than verbal 
form, the pictures, characters, or situations of the story 
can be drawn by the children. Dramatization forms 
the next important means of expression. But, in car- 
rying it out, we must remember that all children must 
participate in classroom dramatizations. A star per- 
formance has no place in the class. Then, too, the 
timid child must not be forced; he may be invited, 
coaxed and encouraged. Failure in a forced attempt 
may mean permanent discouragement. 

7. The final purpose of the story may be to arouse 
moral judgments. We must not force a moral if the 
story does not yield one spontaneously, nor is it neces- 
sary that every story should be freighted with a moral. 

Selection of Stories to Tell. — Before telling the story 
one naturally submits it, consciously or unconsciously, 

95 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

to the standards : "Is it appropriate ? Is it well ar- 
ranged?" But we must be sure that we answer these 
questions from the children's viewpoint, rather than 
from our adult judgment. What do they seem to pre- 
fer in stories? A similar series of varied stories was 
read to different groups of children. At the end of 
the term, a vote was taken, and it was found by Miss 
Bryant that "The Three Bears," "The Little Pigs," 
"The Woman and the Pig" were voted the most popu- 
lar. From their selections and from their eliminations 
we can readily outline a series of merits that children 
demand in stories. Three characteristics of the stories 
chosen by the children are : ( i ) The story must 
abound in action. "Something happens all the time. 
Each step is an event." There are no descriptions, no 
gaps, no moralizing, nothing to impede the movement 
of the story. (2) The pictures must be about things 
well known to the children. In the "Three Bears" 
we have the animals, a spoon, a house, a chair, a bed, 
etc. The story so orders these that an element of mys- 
tery tinges all the incidents and transports the children 
into Bearland. (3) The stories must be cumulative, 
repetitive. Each story is built up by a spiral of repe- 
tition, each circle repeats the previous incident and 
adds a new touch. This type of story appeals to the 
child, because it gives increased familiarity with each 
phase of the story. Just as we experience a feeling of 
joy in recognizing a quotation, or a motif in music, 
so, too, the child is delighted to recognize and feel each 
repetition. There is a joy in keeping the sequence 

96 



THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 

accurate. This can be done with no effort in the 
cumulative tale, because of the repetitions. 

How to Tell a Story. — The successful story-teller fol- 
lows, unconsciously, perhaps, a few important princi- 
ples. What shall the inexperienced narrator remem- 
ber to guide him? 

1. Know the Message of the Story. — Since a story 
is a work of art, it has a message. We must make 
sure that we have found it before we attempt to give 
it to others. The message varies with the story. It 
may be one of humor, of pathos, of sincerity, of mor- 
ality, or of nonsense. We must find the basic 
appeal of the story and then let it control the whole 
period. 

2. Feel the Basic Emotion. — The message of a 
story cannot be delivered unless it is actually felt by 
the messenger. Hence, one must never attempt to tell 
a story one does not feel. The sham of pretense is 
apparent at once; the appreciation must be genuine. 
The final test before telling a story is, "Does the narra- 
tor enjoy the telling?" 

3. Aim at Correct Technique. — The technique of 
the telling has considerable influence in determining 
the appeal and the effect which the story will make. 
Hence we must be sure of a number of factors that 
determine effective, well-polished technique. 

(a) Know your story. In the telling there must 
be no halting for a name, a place, or a date. The 
narrator must not allow the story to show contra- 
dictions of facts or incidents. The story must be so 

97 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

familiar that at no point does it become necessary to 
improvise. It must have the smoothness of a personal 
incident, free from every suggestion of effort and 
labor. 

(b) The story need not he memorized. To secure 
the proper grace and ease of narration many profes- 
sional story-tellers memorize their stories in their early 
attempts. The opinion seems general that in memori- 
zation there is grave danger of becoming stilted and 
artificial. As the words fall mechanically from the 
lips, they betray a lack of spontaneity. 

(c) Proper physical conditions must he secured. 
If possible, children ought to be seated in a semicircle, 
or in two semicircles, while listening to the story. 
With the unfortunate furniture which prevails this is 
impossible, but in almost every class children can be 
brought closer to the narrator. The children must 
always see the teacher's face; they must be "physically 
close to be mentally close." 

(d) The voice is the chief agent in technique. The 
teacher must never stop the story to admonish William 
or Mary for a petty offense. Continue with the story, 
in the hope that it has enough charm and interest to 
quiet the children. The voice should at all times be 
sympathetic and subdued. A loud voice kills all feel- 
ing and makes proper atmosphere and appeal impossi- 
ble. But there is no reason for painful refinement or 
an artificial whisper. 

(e) Be in the mood. The best means to get oneself 
into the proper emotional setting is to have the charac- 

98 



THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 

teristic picture of the story flash repeatedly through 
one's mind. There must be a sincere effort to take on 
the dominant mood from the very beginning. 

(f) Tell it "simply, directly, dramatically." This 
is the essence of Miss Bryant's advice. "Simply" 
cautions against posing and affectations. "Directly" 
advises that we go straight through the story, get to 
its very heart, but with no explanation. "Dramati- 
cally" cautions to avoid the mannerisms of the elocu- 
tionist. It urges a vivid, responsive, sincere narra- 
tion, with the gestures, the voice, and the speech 
pauses of natural life. If the story itself cannot 
touch the child's heart, no ranting or gesticulating 
will. 

The Moral. — Many an excellent story loses its ap- 
peal, fails to grip the children and provoke the de- 
signed response because of the moralizing indulged in 
by the teacher. "Don't Moralize" should be embla- 
zoned in shining letters as a warning against the com- 
mon pitfall. Let the story, through its sentiments, 
make its own appeal. If the story cannot, the teacher 
cannot. An explanation or a concrete application that 
is deemed necessary may be given briefly at some point 
during the story, but in the end the story must teach 
its own lesson ; the final appeal must be the appeal made 
by the story itself. No story has ever made a good 
child of a bad one. But the cumulative effect of story 
upon story, appeal upon appeal, has a keen and subtle 
influence which we cannot estimate. The moralizer 
robs the story of its lasting effect. 

99 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 



SUGGESTED READING 

Bryant, Sarah Cone. How to Tell Stories. Houghton, 
Mifflin Co. 

Bryant, Sarah Cone. Stories to Tell. Houghton, Mif- 
flin Co. 

Carpenter, Baker and Scott. Teaching of English, 
81-98. 

Chubb, P. The Teaching of English, chaps. VI, IX. 

Goldwasser, I. E. Method and Methods in the Teach- 
ing of English, chaps. VI, X. 

Hosic, James F. The Elementary Course in English, 
pp. 57-121, and the Appendix. University of Chi- 
cago Press. 

Huey, Edmund B. Psychology and Pedagogy of Read- 
ing, chaps. XIII, XIX. 

Laing, Mary E. Reading, a Manual for Teachers, 
chaps. XV, XVI, XVII. 

Moses, Montrose J. Children's Books and Reading. 
Mitchell Kennedy. 

Partridge, E. N., and G. E. Story Telling in School 
and Home. Sturgis and Walton. 

Reeder, R. R. Historical Development of School Read- 
ers and of Methods of Teaching Reading. Colum- 
bia University Contributions to Phil. Psy. and Ed., 
viii. No. 2. Macmillan Co. 

Reading Lists for Children. A. L. A. List, Washing- 
ton, D. C. Pittsburgh Library List. Chicago Public 
Library, "Help to Teachers," No. i. Nev^r York 
Public Library, Juvenile List. Course of Study in 
Reading, Indianapolis, Indiana. 

100 



THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF PRIMARY READING 

St. John, Ed. P. Stories and Story Telling in Moral 
and Religious Education. Pilgrim Press, Boston 
and New York. 

VosTROvsKY, Clara. A Study of Children's Reading 
Tastes. Pedagogical Seminary, vi, 523-535. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PHONICS : THE STUDY OF SOUND PRODUCTION 

The Objects of Phonics. — However literary a reading 
method may be in its inception and early development, 
its final efficiency is appreciably decreased if it does 
not develop power for independent reading by reduc- 
ing the recognition and interpretation of symbols to 
the plane of habit. Phonics, or phonetics, must be 
coordinate with thought in any reading method, for 
the following reasons: 

1. The child must develop a habit of attacking new 

words that occur in his reading. 

2. Ability to recognize these new word-forms is 

determined by a knowledge of phonograms and 
the sounds which they represent. This knowl- 
edge of phonics serves an equally important 
role in spelling. 

3. The correct sound cannot be uttered unless the 

child hears it correctly. A study of phonics 
must sharpen auditory perception and develop 
greater sensitiveness for correct sound through 
systematic ear training. 

4. Correct sound cannot be uttered unless the child 

has perfect control of the necessary organs of 
102 



PHONICS 

speech. Through phonic drills the child learns 
to use the organs of speech in perfect coordi- 
nation. 
5. A systematic and graded study of phonics de- 
velops clear articulation, correct enunication, 
and proper voice control; without these, the 
purity of spoken English degenerates to the 
careless and vulgar level of the street. 
The Necessary Facts of Phonics. — The efficiency of 
the teacher's work in phonics will be determined by 
her knowledge of the basic facts of sound production, 
as well as by her pedagogical expertness. We must 
summarize, therefore, the necessary basis of facts. 

Terms Defined. — The terms phonic and phonetic 
are used loosely in the literature of reading. Most 
writers make no distinction between them beyond the 
diacritical marks that characterize phonetics. Some 
authors use phonics to refer to the study of sound, 
and phonetics, in a larger sense, to include sound and 
its representation by symbols. Since these distinctions 
are more honored in the breach than in the observance, 
we may define both phonics and phonetics as the sci- 
ence of speech sound, while a phonogram is merely 
the written representation of a sound. The symbols 
h, d, k, ight, ing, f, are therefore phonograms. 

What is Speech f — We must distinguish two impor- 
tant phases of speech, the organic and the acoustic. 
The former refers to the organs of speech production, 
which can be grouped under three heads : ( i ) Or- 
gans of Articulation: teeth, tongue, lips, and palate; 

103 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

(2) Organs of Breath and Voice: vocal chords, laryn- 
geal muscles, glottis; (3) Organs of Cooperation: 
chest, abdominal muscles, lungs, diaphragm, etc. The 
great number of cooperating organs necessary for 
speech explains why accurate articulation and enuncia- 
tion are impossible very often with young children, 
who have not developed reliable coordination; why 
speech is physically fatiguing; why speech, which, un- 
der ordinary circumstances may be careful, often be- 
comes careless during fatigue; why conditions which 
are enervating always aggravate speech difficulties of 
stammerers, and why habits of correct speech are de- 
veloped with such difficulty in foreign-born children. 
The acoustic phase of speech concerns itself only with 
the quality of sound, control of breath, and resonance. 

In the light of its organic and acoustic aspects, 
speech is only breath expelled by the lungs and modi- 
fied either in the throat or in the mouth. If the reader 
will merely exhale a breath through the mouth he will 
find that no speech sound results. Let him now expel 
a breath again, and modify it in the throat, and he will 
recognize some vowel sound; the utterance of ah, or 
eh, will illustrate this process. If he will now expel 
breath and not interfere with it until it gets into the 
mouth chamber, but there subject it to some modifi- 
cation, a consonant sound will be produced. In giving 
the sound of s, t, p, he will go through this process. 

Classification of Sound According to the Manner of 
Production. — An analysis of the mode of speech pro- 
duction, i. e., breath expelled by the lungs and modi- 

104 



PHONICS 



fied by the throat or the mouth, gives three classes of 
sounds, as can be seen in the following table : 



How Produced 


Illustration 


Technical Names 


T. 


Those in which there is 


wh-p-t-k-f-th as in ihin 


Pure Consonants, Atonies, 




mere breath explosion 




Surds. 




or fiction. 






2 


Those in which there is 
a vocal murmur modi- 
fied by the size and the 




Breath consonants. 




shape of the mouth . 


a in ale, at, far, fall. 


Vowels, Vocals, Tonics. 


3- 


Those produced by 
^combining breath ex- 
plosion or friction with 








a vocal murmur 


w-b-d-g-v-th as in them. 


Semi-Consonants, Sonants, 
Subtonics, Voiced Con- 
sonants. 



The reader can best understand this grouping by 
actually uttering these sounds and studying the proc- 
esses involved. 

The Consonant Further Considered. — From the table 
it is evident that consonants are the result of "audible 
friction, or stopping of the breath, in some part of the 
mouth or throat." All consonants can therefore be 
whispered, while no vowel can. An attempt to whis- 
per the sounds of wh and w, p and b, t and d, k and g, 
th as in thin, th as in them, will reveal the fact that 
the pure consonants which are produced by mere 
breath explosion or friction can be whispered more 
softly and with greater ease than those which have 
an element of vocal murmur in them. Here we have 
the reason for the usual classification of consonant 
sounds into "voiced" and "unvoiced," such as is 
given below. Consonants are usually more important 
in oral speech than vowels, for their careless utter- 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

ance does more to produce lack of clearness than 
wrong vowel values. Let the reader speak a sentence 
twice, first giving the vowels wrong values and then 
slurring the consonants ; he will notice that, while the 
first reading gives mispronunciations the second pro- 
duces an unintelligible result. The following table ^ of 
consonant elements in the English tongue is much used 
today; it groups the sounds not in alphabetical order, 
but according to the mode and place of utterance. 



Table of Consonant Elements in English 



Mode and Place of Utterance 


Momentary 


Continuous 


Nasal 
Con- 
tinuous 




Surd 

or 
Breath 


Sonant 

or 
Voiced 


Surd 

or 
Breath 


Sonant 

or 
Voiced 


Sonant 

or 
Voiced 


Lips 

Lips and Teeth 

Tongue and Teeth 

Tongue and Hard Palate (forward) 

Tongue and Hard Palate (back) 

Tongue, Hard Palate and Soft Palate 

Tongue and Soft Palate 

Indeterminate (Various Places) 


P 

t 

ch 

k 
h 


b 

d 
3 

S 


th ink 
sh 


w 

V 

th em 
z:r 
zh.r 

y:i 


m 

H 

ng 



Vowels Further Considered. — A vowel, we saw, is 
nothing more than voice (breath murmured in the 
throat), modified by the shape of the mouth. Let the 
reader utter the vowel sounds in the words hee, gay, 
ask, ciit, awful, pool, and notice that the same voice 
is used in all, but the configuration of the mouth is 
changed by the movements of the tongue, lower jaw, 
lips, and soft palate. The mouth is a resonance cham- 

* CoE and Christie. Story Hour Readers Manual, 127. Her- 
VEY and Hix. Horace Mann Readers ; Daily Lesson Plans, 
xlviii. 

106 



PHONICS 



ber, which changes the quahty of a vowel with its 
change in shape. Vowels are the musical elements in 
speech, for they can all be sung. 

Since the changing value of vowel sounds is pro- 
duced by changing the configuration of the mouth, it 
becomes necessary to arrange the vowels in a graded 
scale so that, in going from each successive one, the 
shape of the mouth chamber changes gradually. The 
old classification studied the sounds of a as a (ate), 
a (at), a (far), a (fall); then of ^ as ^ (mere), e 
(nest), e (her) ; then of i, o, and u. There is obvi- 
ously no gradation of vowel values in this series. Bell 
arranged the vowel values in the following sequence, 
according to their values. If the reader will sound 
the successive vowels a few times to become familiar 
with them, and then repeat the exercise and note the 
changing positions of tongue and lips, he will see at 
once the basic principle in this sequence ^ : 



Lip Changes 




Bell' 


s Vowel Chart 


Tongue Changes 


The lips are tense 


^ I 


ee 


(long) bee 




and parallel at ee - 


2 


i 


(short) pm 




(bee) and » (p»n) 


^ 3 


a 


(long) gay 






'' 4 


e 


(short) met 
(long) e'er 


-The tongue gradually moves 




S 


a 


(short) hat 


down and back in going from 


The lips are re- 


6 


a 


(long) ask 


ee (bee) to e (her) 


laxed and round- < 


7 


a 


(long) fother 




ed at a (ask) 


8 


e 


(long) her , 






9 


u 


(short) cut 
(long) curtain 






,10 


o 


(short) not 


The back of the tongue grad- 




II 


aw 


(long) awinX 


• ually moves up and back in 


The lips are puck- 


12 





(long) old 


going from u (cut) to oo (pool) 


ered at 00 (good) 


[■^ 


oo 
oo 


(short) good 
(long) pool 





Value of Scientific Gradation of Vowel Values. — 
The practical teacher may admit that Bell's vowel 
* Rearranged by Prof. Frederick B. Robinson. 

107 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

table is more logical and even more scientific than the 
old classification of the sounds according to a, e, i, o, 
and u, but still may ask, "What is its practical peda- 
gogical value ?" Let us assume that a child of foreign 
birth cannot utter the correct vowel value in the words 
cut, up, sup; each^of these he reads as cot, op, and sop, 
respectively. Imitation proves useless, for the child 
has few English sounds in terms of which to apper- 
ceive the vowel sound in question. Instruction as to 
proper relative positions of the organs of speech is 
equally useless, because the differences in the organic 
4)rocesses of w in cut and a in not are too slight to ad- 
mit of demonstration to such a child. Let the teacher 
have recourse to the Bell table and require children to 
sound the vowels in succession, from number one 
through eight. If the child can sound these correctly, 
the vowel in question, u in u^, will be uttered without 
difficulty, because the gradual and successive changes 
in the configurations of the mouth for the first eight 
sounds will practically force the proper mouth con- 
figuration for the ninth vowel value. The phonic les- 
sons in any system of reading should teach the vowels 
in this scientific gradation, rather than in the hap- 
hazard sequence which is determined by successive 
sight words. 

Diacritical Marks. — A source of endless strife in 
phonic work is the use of auxiliary symbols to fix vari- 
able sounds. Most of the recent methods either en- 
tirely eliminate diacritical marks, or else use them only 
in exceptional cases. Experience shows that diacriti- 

io8 



PHONICS 

cal marks in early reading are usually of little service 
to children and sometimes are the cause of much con- 
fusion. But this does not mean that they are never to 
be taught. While they are unnecessary in early phonic 
and word recognition, they are invaluable for later use 
when the dictionary becomes an important factor in 
the child's linguistic studies. Some standard set of 
diacritical marks should be divided among three or 
four grades, and taught gradually in lessons designed 
to develop ability to use the dictionary. 

The Gradation of Phonograms. — It is obvious that 
no attempt can be made to grade phonograms unless 
there are definite principles in accordance with which 
we are to distinguish a difficult from a simple phono- 
gram. The distinction between simple and compound 
phonograms affords no basis of gradation. A simple 
phonogram is a one-letter phonogram, like /, /, m, p, 
k, w, while a compound phonogram is one that con- 
tains a number of letters, like ing, ight, ar, er, or at. 
Length is no index of the difficulty of a phonogram. 

Ward, in his "Rational Method of Reading," gives 
the following three principles that determine which 
phonograms shall be taught .early : 

1. Those that are uttered with ease by the children: 
m, p, f, s are examples of these, while th, wh, r can- 
not be included under this head. 

2. Those that can be prolonged into words without 
losing their identity. The phonogram ight is com- 
pound, but, when it is sounded in words like light, 
bright, night, its sound, It, is as clear as when it is 

109 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

sounded by itself. But, let the reader sound the pho- 
nograms ar, er, or, first, as three separate sounds, and 
then speak the words beggar, editor, and singer. The 
untrained ear hardly differentiates the sound of beg- 
gar from beggar, or editor from editor. Hence, er, 
ar, ir, ur, or, are classed as difficult phonograms. 

3. Those that are common to many words of fre- 
quent use. The phonogram th (voiced) is difficult, 
but must be taught early because the frequency of its 
occurrence tends to make its correct enunciation more 
simple. 

If a reading method begins, not with a few unre- 
lated sentences, but with an entire story, the stock of 
sight words is sufficiently large to enable the teacher 
to choose only such words for phonic analysis as will 
teach the easier phonograms first. 

How to Teach a Phonogram. — Let us assume that the 
phonogram ight is to be taught. How shall the lesson 
be developed, in order to secure the best results in 
the limited time ? The progress of the successive steps 
is indicated in the following outline : 

I. The Teacher's Preparation. — The teacher must 
ask: 

a. Is the phonogram in the correct place in the 

graded series of phonic lessons? 

b. Does the phonic element ight grow out of sight 

words previously learned? 

c. Will the phonic element be useful in later word- 

building? Will it give the child ability to read 
a long list of words independently? 
no 



PHONICS 

d. Have all the mechanical details been mastered? 
i. Is there doubt about the pronunciation ? 
ii. Is there doubt about the position of the organs 
of speech, in order to produce the sound of 
ightf 
iii. Is the complete list of words containing the 
phonogram ight ready? 

2. The Lesson. — a. Ear training is the initial exer- 
cise of the lesson. The children hear the teacher pro- 
nounce a number of words containing the phonogram 
ight, with exaggerated clearness. The children are 
then called upon to sound the words individually, and 
are criticized by the teacher and their classmates. The 
teacher tells the children a story, and introduces the 
words might, right, Ught, sight, etc., with unusual dis- 
tinctness and clearness, and then calls on the pupils for 
individual reproductions of these words or sentences. 
Another procedure is to give the children a few of 
these words, might, iight, and ask them to think of 
other words that rhyme with these. Any method that 
will sharpen auditory perception, make the children 
sensitive to the sound of ight, and give them a good 
apperceptive auditory stock, is an excellent preparation 
for the lesson. 

b. Phonic analysis, which isolates the sound of 
ight, is the next efifort in the lesson. This the teacher 
can accomplish in one of two ways: (i) by exagger- 
ated slowness of uterance, /// It, mmni it, or (ii) by 
a comparison of the family of ight words. In the sec- 

III 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

ond procedure the teacher asks the children to listen 
for a similar sound in the following series, right, fight, 
tight, etc. When the sound of ight is isolated, chil- 
dren are called individually to utter it with great dis- 
tinctness. This step ends when the children learn the 

visual symbols "ight" and zioyi/ for the sound. 

c. The synthetic step or the blend is the last step 
in the lesson, for the child now learns to read any 
word whose basal phonogram is ight. It is here that 
the fruits of phonic analysis and ear training are 
reaped, and the child develops independence in read- 
ing. To facilitate the drill of blending known phonic 
elements with ight to produce a new word, mechani- 
cal devices are suggested. Typical of these easily 
made aids we may mention the following: An ordi- 




112 



PHONICS 

nary board, about 30 inches long and 3 inches wide, 
has a hole (3;) at one end by means of which it is 
suspended from the frame of the blackboard, and a 
nail (x) at the other, which acts as a pivot on which 
circular cardboards are revolved. A circular disk, 
having a diameter of about 15 inches, is cut from 
ordinary cardboard. The center is perforated and is 
revolved on the pivot nail. On the circular disk the 
teacher writes s, I, f, n, r, t, and on the board ight. 
By revolving the cardboard disk, the words sight, light, 
fight, etc., can be produced instantaneously. Other 
drills, with stairs, ladders, railroad ties, games, etc., 
will be found in manuals of primary reading. These 
mechanical devices enable the drill to become spirited 
and help toward permanent fixation and the inculca- 
tion of the habit of instantaneous recognition. 

General Directions for All Phonic Lessons Cumula- 
tive experience has shown the wisdom of certain de- 
vices in the teaching of phonics, and the limitations 
of others. We must, therefore, sum up for the class 
teacher, the constructive suggestions for all phonic 
lessons. 

I. The Analytic Synthetic Procedure. — Every phon- 
ic lesson must begin with words containing the spe- 
cific phonogram to be taught. The words selected 
for phonic analysis must also be such as are known at 
sight. The sequence of the complete lesson is there- 
fore: from sight words to phonogram, and then back 
again to a rich stock of words formed by phonic syn- 
thesis. 

"3 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

2. Motivation. — As far as possible the objects of 
phonic drills shall be made a conscious goal for the 
children. After a few lessons, they should be led to 
realize that phonic mastery means better speech and 
independent reading. The new attitude which the 
children will take toward ensuing lessons dispels the 
seeming drudgery, and guarantees active cooperation 
and interest in personal progress. 

3. In the Blend, Place the Burden on the Child. — 
The test of the efficiency of the lesson lies in the abil- 
ity of the child to read new words. It is therefore 
unwise to give undue aid during the synthetic step. 
If unusual difficulty is here experienced, the cause lies 
in lack of preparation or lack of mastery of phonic 
elements previously taught. 

4. The Content Aspect in Phonics. — Although phon- 
ics deals with formalism in language, thought need 
not be excluded. All results of phonic blends should 
be real words. Frequently children should be required 
to give evidence of ability to recognize new words by 
acting them out, drawing them, or pointing out the 
objects they represent. Thus, the phonogram taught 
was m^; when the teacher puts the word sing on the 
board during the blend, the child regards it as a re- 
quest, and sings, do, re, me; at the word ring, another 
child draws a circle on the board. These exercises 
tend to reestablish the basic association in reading, 
symbol-thought association, and add an interest which 
comes from dealing with ideas, rather than with pure 
form. 

114 



PHONICS 

5. Instantaneous Recognition. — It should be the aim 
of the synthetic step to develop almost instantaneous 
recognition of new words. A well-graded course that 
unfolds the phonic elements slowly, and provides suffi- 
cient drill, can develop the habit of rapid word recog- 
nition without slow, laborious lip-reading. In all 
grades lip-reading should be discouraged; in the third 
year it should be prohibited, for it tends to develop 
habits of word reading instead of thought acquisition. 

6. Grouping According to Specific Inabilities. — In 
all phonic work, concert answering should be regarded 
skeptically. Each child, whether correct or not in his 
utterances, becomes an unconscious model for his 
neighbor and the successive imitations sink gradually, 
but surely, to lower levels. The rapid individual reci- 
tation is imperative in phonic lessons. 

The mode of instruction, as well as the conduct of 
the recitation, must be thoroughly individualized. All 
children have their difficulties in phonics, but not all 
labor under the same limitations. Some can recog- 
nize all phonograms, but are defective in enunciation ; 
other children utter some sounds accurately, but are 
unable to reproduce others, etc. It is evident that any 
system of class teaching in phonics will give children 
only passing attention in their weak points, and expend 
much more time in drilling on what they know. As soon 
as practical, the class should be grouped according to 
weaknesses along important lines, and the instruction 
should seek to give to each child his specific needs. 

7. Undue Emphasis on Organic Phase of Speech. — 

"5 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

Advisable as it is to teach the correct relative position 
of the organs of speech in difficult sounds, it is never- 
theless wise to realize the limitations of this informa- 
tion. The following procedure for teaching correct 
sound is outlined for teachers in a certain manual : 
(a) Utter the sound; (b) explain position of organs 
of speech; (c) let each child with mirror in hand study 
the relative position of his own teeth, tongue, etc. ; 
(d) let the children attempt the pronunciation. Here 
we have an illustration of undue emphasis on the or- 
ganic aspect of speech, which must be condemned. 

All speech eventually sinks to the level of habit. The 
aim must therefore be to make utterance of speech an 
unconscious process. Let the teacher utter the sound 
with exceptional clearness and accuracy, and call upon 
the children individually to imitate. A few attempts 
and repetitions will show that a majority of the class 
learns new sounds by imitation, and through repetition 
develops the habit of correct speech. To emphasize 
the organic aspect of speech to these children makes 
speech a conscious process for them. It should also 
be noted that a nervous child, who often succeeds 
when he imitates the teacher, fails after he learns the 
correct position of the organs of speech, for now he 
has a new set of conditions to control and added 
coordinations to make consciously. Only those chil- 
dren who cannot reproduce a sound correctly after 
repeated attempts to imitate the clearly enunciated 
speech of the teacher, should be introduced to the or- 
ganic phase of speech. 

ii6 



PHONICS 

The Elimination of Habitual Mispronunciations ^The 

occasional mispronunciations that one hears from chil- 
dren, municipal, executive, and the like, need cause 
little worry. These drop out in time in the course of 
experience, because of corrections by teachers, contact 
with older people who speak correctly, attendance at 
lectures, etc. These errors are usually personal, and 
differ with each individual. The types of mispronun- 
ciation that must be the concern of the school are 
those that are heard in ever-increasing circles, and 
tend to drag our spoken language to the level of the 
street. Errors like ^/at, goi\, hist-ry, sin gin' , w'ite, 
t'row. Tc»o.yday, are no longer individual weaknesses, 
but are found in large groups in every class; their 
eradication is an imperative duty. It is evident that 
these linguistic mutilations can be traced to definite 
contributing causes — and that remedial measures 
which do not take cognizance of these causes and seek 
to counteract them, are inevitably doomed to failure. 
Our procedure will be to ascertain the causes and then 
evolve a remedial program. 

Causes of Habitual Mispronunciations. — Chief 
among the conditions that make for slovenly speech 
we must enumerate the following: 

I. Foreign linguistic characteristics are carried over 
into English. The Jewish child hears and speaks in 
his home the language of peculiar gutturals. He 
brings these over to his English, and turns song into 
sonk, and Long Island into Lonk Kiland; the German 
child brings the flat, dull d and the broad vowels of 

117 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

his language to the word that, and turns it into daat; 
another child of foreign parentage intonates his Eng- 
lish with the cadence peculiar to the language of his 
parents. 

2. The influence of the street helps to keep spoken 
English on a low level. Few children have the cour- 
age to carry the correctly enunciated th or wh of those 
and which, or the correct u in duty, to their playmates. 
In the few hours allotted to it the school must engage 
in conflict with innumerable retarding forces that 
make up the greater part of the child's social environ- 
ment. Not only must the school develop habits of 
correct speech, but it must spend much of its energies 
undermining existing habits of incorrect speech. 

3. Indifference to proper speech, or sheer careless- 
ness of utterance contributes materially toward the 
slovenliness of the language of the street. Not until 
children understand the need of correctly spoken lan- 
guage will they experience a motive sufficiently vital 
to stir in them an honest endeavor at self -improvement 
and a pride in purity and grace of speech. 

4. Lack of proper apperceptive auditory basis is 
another contributing cause of incorrect oral speech. 
Many children of foreign parentage hear so little Eng- 
lish that the auditory center fails to interpret accu- 
rately the sounds that are made by the teacher. The 
ear has become so accustomed to the competing lan- 
guage that it can no longer hear accurately the pure 
English sound. Many such children make no distinc- 
tion between t'row and throw, w'ite and white, in 

118 



PHONICS 

their speech, because they hear none in the most accu- 
rately enunciated speech of others. Tireless patience, 
repeated appeals, exaggerated enunciation and a more 
intimate relation to the English language in the hours 
after school, gradually develop an auditory sensitivity 
which enables the child to hear these differences. 

5. Wrong position of the organs of speech makes 
correct utterance impossible. Where imitation fails, 
the teacher must show the child the necessary posi- 
tions and coordinations of the speech organs. 

6. Physical or physiological impediments, like the 
absence of teeth, poor articulation of teeth, thickness 
of tongue, short ligaments, malformation of the jaw, 
are handicaps to correct speech that teachers must 
note, for some of these can be corrected by surgical 
or dental treatment. 

The Correction of Habitual Errors. — i. Passing at- 
tention to mispronunciations will not develop habits 
of correct speech. In every grade the teacher is held 
responsible for the correction of all errors in children's 
oral speech. When the mispronunciation is heard, the 
child is corrected and the matter is dismissed until the 
child offends again in his pronounciation. It is obvious 
that such spasmodic and haphazard correction lacks 
the vigor and the concentrated drill that tend to eradi- 
cate these habits of erroneous speech. To eliminate 
these, each teacher must be held responsible for a few 
definite corrections. The principal or supervisor 
should list all common mispronunciations that occur in 
children's speech. These should then be subdivided 

"9 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

among the grades of the first five or six years. Such 
a list will not contain more than eighteen or twenty 
common mispronunciations; dividing these among the 
six grades, from the beginning of the third year 
through the end of the fifth, we have an average of 
three to a grade The third-year teacher feels that by 
unrelenting drill and by emphasis in every lesson, she 
must break the habit in her children of ( i ) dropping 
final g, "seein," (2) slurring or omitting r, "hold," 
and (3) turning th {them) into d, "dem." In this 
grade other mistakes are corrected when they occur, 
but only three are singled out for vigorous drill. In 
this way, all common errors can be eliminated by the 
end of the fifth school year. This seems a reasonable 
result. But to require every teacher in every grade 
to correct every error of oral speech is to court failure. 

2. Make a strong auditory appeal. Having deter- 
mined to eradicate rfem for thtm, the teacher now 
sounds a list of words that begin with the voiced th. 
This list is repeated two or three times with exagger- 
ated enunciation of the th until every ear reverberates 
with the sound of the voiced th. If the child hears 
foreign sounds in his home, or incorrect th on the 
street, his ear must be forcibly assailed by the cor- 
rect th. 

3. Secure motivation and imitation. After leading 
children to realize that correct pronunciation has un- 
mistakable worth in their social intercourse, let them 
reproduce the sound as made by the teacher. Those 
who succeed are given sentences to read that involve 

120 



PHONICS 

d and th, e. g., ''Don't rfeny f/jem f/fose delights." 
This is kept up until correct th becomes a habit in 
speech. 

4. Explain organic processes to those who fail. 
Only those children who fail in their repeated endeav- 
ors to imitate the teacher's model speech must be 
shown how the organs of speech are to be used in 
order to produce the sound in question. Each pupil 
should have a small mirror, and should study the or- 
ganic processes necessary for correct utterance of the 
sound. The children should look at the teacher care- 
fully as she whispers these sounds to them; they 
should be told to speak these sounds without voice as 
the teacher watches them and criticizes the positions 
of the different organs of speech. If the organic 
phase is correct, children should be called upon indi- 
vidually to produce the sound simultaneously with the 
teacher. As each child succeeds he is put into the 
group that reads sentences designed to make the cor- 
rect utterance of the sound an unconscious process. 

Infinite patience is required. After all this careful 
work, foreign children, when called upon to pronounce 
them, often put the tongue between the teeth, vibrate 
the tongue a moment and say ththth — dem. These 
children evidently hear the correct sound, have learned 
its organic phase, but have not yet developed the coor- 
dinations necessary to produce it. Untiring drill will 
bring results. 

5. Employ certain mechanical aids. a. "Tongue 
Twisters" is the inelegant name for those artificial 

121 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

rhymes and nonsense jingles designed to give practice 
in certain sounds. The famous query, "If Theosophus 
Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, sifted three thou- 
sand thistles through the thick of his thumb, then 
where are the three thousand thistles that Theosophus 
Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, sifted through the 
thick of his thumb?" is an illustration of the host of 
drills found in any technical volume on phonics. A 
list of these books is given at the end of the chapter. 

b. The lisper, who turns all sounds of .y into th, 
e. g., "Thaesar thaid that he thaw" for "Caesar said 
that he saw," can be helped if he will assiduously 
practice reading such sentences in front of a mirror 
and keep pushing the tongue, as it comes forward, 
back into the mouth. In saying "saw," the lisper puts 
the tongue out too far, and produces a soft th; as 
soon as the tongue is pushed back of the teeth the soft 
th becomes an .$•, and thaw becomes saw. 

c. The Russian whose attachment for the sound of 
w leads him to read wery wiwacions for very viva- 
cious, can produce the sound of 7/ by biting the lower 
lip with the upper teeth ; a ''very vivacious and villain- 
ous villain" will now be read correctly. The person 
who commits the opposite fault, viz., who reads. Veil 
Villiam, what vould you have? can produce the sound 
of w by puckering his lips, saying oo, oo, oo, and ap- 
proaching his finger gently to his mouth : oo now be- 
comes woo, and veil becomes a crude well; a correct 
beginning is made, self-confidence is developed, and 
the foreigner approximates English pronunciation. 

122 



PHONICS 

d. The child who cannot produce soft th, and says 
free birds for three birds, can learn to produce this 
sound by biting the tongue between the teeth and forc- 
ing the breath out at the point of contact. These sim- 
ple mechanical aids when applied will suggest a host 
of auxiliary devices for other difficulties if teachers 
will carefully analyze their own organic processes in 
speech. 

Serious Speech Defects. — The study of the more seri- 
ous speech defects, stammering and stuttering, clut- 
tering, etc., their causes, diagnosis, and remedial meas- 
ures, is clearly not part of the problem of teaching 
children to read. These speech defects are too seri- 
ous for treatment by the busy class teacher. Children 
so afflicted must be examined by a physician and by a 
person trained in the treatment of serious speech de- 
fects and must receive expert individual attention. 
Special "Speech Defect Classes" must be organized in 
large schools or in each school district where children 
can be helped to overcome ailments which otherwise 
often doom them to a life of melancholy solitude. 



SUGGESTED READING 

Bell, Alexander Graham. Mechanism of Speech. 

Funk and Wagnalls. 
CoE and Christie. Story Hour Readers, Manual, 119- 

136. American Book Co. 
Dresslar, F. B. School Hygiene, chap. XVIII. Mac- 

millan Co. 

123 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

GoLDWASSER, I. E. Method and Methods in the Teach- 
ing of English, chaps. Ill, IV. 

Hervey and Hix. Horace Mann Readers : Daily Les- 
son Plans, pp. xxvii-lxiv. Longmans, Green & Co. 

Jones, Dora D. The Technique of Speech. Harper 
Bros. 

Levine, Michael. Treatment of Stuttering, Stammer- 
ing and Lisping in a New York City School. Psy- 
chological Clinic, vi. No. 4, June, 1912. 

Scripture, E. W. Stuttering and Lisping. The Mac- 
millan Co. 

Scripture, E. W. Elements of Experimental Phonetics. 
Yale Bicentennial Series, 1902. 

Sweet, Henry. Primer of Phonetics. Oxford, 1890, 



CHAPTER IX 

reading in the intermediary grades 
(the third year through the sixth year.) 

The Problem of Reading in the Intermediary Grades. 

— Reading in the third, fourth, fifth and six years of 
the elementary school course is usually a dead failure. 
The patient observer sees no aims in the round of les- 
sons, no organization that is designed to achieve any 
specific result, and no pleasure experienced by the 
child. In the first two years, the method in reading, 
however undesirable, has system that is determined by 
definite and preconceived goals; in the intermediary 
grades reading is a transitional exercise. A selection in 
the class reader is announced and some child is called 
upon to read aloud what the others can read much 
more rapidly to themselves. Those who become in- 
terested in the content are penalized if they do not 
keep apace with the child who has been designated to 
plod his way through the maze of phonic difficulties 
and expressional problems. Those pupils who are at- 
tentive derive the dubious benefits which come from 
hearing various sorts of mispronunciations and verbal 
mutilations. In large classes some children sometimes 
wait two weeks before they are victimized for this oral 

125 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

reading. The child who reads aloud does so, not 
from a rational desire to communicate to his class- 
mates an idea that is interesting to him, but rather be- 
cause he must run the gauntlet of criticism from the 
teacher. What wonder that these oral renditions of 
the gems of our literature are flat and dispirited, and 
fail to arouse in children even a faint emotional re- 
sponse ? 

The Aims of Intermediary Reading. — ^Without a defi- 
nite formulation of the ends that must be attained all 
method will prove futile. What, then, are the legiti- 
mate aims of reading in these grades? 

1. The Technique of English. — The first aim of 
intermediary reading may be to teach language struc- 
ture, to give a richer vocabulary, to offer models of 
composition, worthy of imitation, or to present any 
of the elements that make up the formal aspect of 
English. It is obvious that this aim subordinates 
reading for thought acquisition, and therefore has a 
limited application in oral reading. We must avoid 
reading with a microscope and a scalpel. No literary 
gem that throbs with life should be studied on the 
dissecting table. Only those facts of grammar, com- 
position and rhetoric should be taken up in the reading 
lesson that arise as natural problems in the course of 
reading for thought. 

2. Information. — A second aim of reading may be 
to acquire information of any interesting relation in 
life. The text may deal with ethical or patriotic 
themes; it may tell of progress in the sciences or in- 

126 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

dustry or transportation; it may correlate with the 
grade work in history or geography. This informa- 
tional aim is often condemned, because teachers turn 
their reading lessons into history or nature study les- 
sons. This is manifestly a misapplication of a very 
good idea in reading. 

The informational aim tends to emphasize content, 
to encourage much rapid silent reading and sufficient 
oral composition on the text. It must therefore be 
given a dignified place among the aims of reading. 

3. The Literary Aim. — This is the most popular 
end in reading, because it offers content that is pleas- 
urable, natural and elevating in its esthetic and moral 
appeal. Its influence on method is marked, for now 
the reading lesson must seek to uncover literary 
beauty, to instil a love for good literary form, to ex- 
plain character development, to lead children to memo- 
rize what appeals most to them, so that it becomes 
their permanent possession. 

4. Development of the Art of Reading. — The 
fourth aim of reading may be to develop in each child 
an ability to read much in little time, to sacrifice word 
forms for the underlying thought. Huey's indictment 
of reading in the schools is : We read too soon, too 
little, too slowly. "Too little" refers to the tendency 
toward overthoroughness, to the analysis of every sen- 
tence and every language difficulty; "too slowly" re- 
fers to the overemphasis on slow, laborious oral read- 
ing, with its sacred regard for every word and every 
comma. 

127 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

This aim in reading should be emphasized where 
reading abiHty is not up to grade. It teaches the chil- 
dren to extract thought from the printed page; it 
teaches the teacher that too early an insistence on oral 
reading undermines habits of proper reading. 

5. Oral Reading and Mastery of Symbols. — An- 
other aim may prevail in a class where the children 
are weak in phonics and experience difficulty in recog- 
nizing words, thus being unable to give proper oral 
rendition. In such cases, a text should be selected that 
is rich in words which allow phonic analysis and syn- 
thesis. The devices that are offered for the correction 
of these limitations in the chapters on primary reading 
and phonics can be used to advantage in these grades. 

Conclusion. — Each of these aims has its legitimate 
province and determines the method of the lesson. It 
is for the teacher to select the aim which is to govern 
any lesson or series of lessons. 

The Teacher's Preparation for the Reading Lesson. 
— The success of the lesson depends to a great extent 
on the teacher's preparation. She must be sure that 
the selections are interesting and varied. If they are 
taken from a reader they should not follow seriatim, 
but should be grouped with a view toward compari- 
sons. These selections may be appropriate for the 
season and approaching holidays. The teacher must 
decide on the governing aim and those devices of meth- 
od which will attain the end sought. She must list the 
difficulties of phonics or interpretation that can be an- 
ticipated, and then devise means of meeting these. 

128 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

She must have her illustrative material, pictures, dram- 
atizations, phonic charts, ready before the lesson be- 
gins. These matters cannot be left to the inspiration 
of the moment, for they are not a moment's work. 

Preparing the Class for the lesson. — Before the selec- 
tion is read by the children a threefold preparation 
may be necessary to insure its welcome reception. 

I. The Technical or Formal Preparation. — Pre- 
paratory phonic drill: The first endeavor of the 
teacher must be to remove all unnecessary difficulties. 
On reading the selection, she feels certain that the 
words, cataract, drought, descend, and emancipation, 
which occur in the text, will be pronounced by the 
children. A phonic drill is therefore devised to fore- 
stall these errors. The children are asked to read cat, 
ar, act, as syllables, and then as rapidly as the pointer 
indicates, until the sound of the word cataract becomes 
familiar. The bough of a tree is now written on the 
board, and the word bough, which is known to all, is 
selected. The teacher erases the b, and calls for the 
remaining sound ough; she now prefixes dr, and the 
children read drough; when the t is added, no child 
experiences any difficulty in pronouncing the word 
correctly. Emancipation, which looks formidable, is 
likewise syllabicated, and thus rendered simple. 

The values of these phonic drills are many: (i) 
Children learn how to attack new words; (2) enuncia- 
tion and articulation are improved; (3) the ear is 
made sensitive to correct sound; (4) phonograms are 
constantly reviewed; (5) the children acquire confi- 

129 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

dence; (6) the occurrence of mispronunciations is re- 
duced materially. The last gain is very significant. 
A child who never heard the word "drought" is ready 
to accept any one of a number of possible sounds. The 
correct pronunciation is no more attractive than the 
incorrect ones. If these mispronunciations are not 
forestalled by a phonic drill, the class hears one of its 
members mispronounce the word. The teacher then 
corrects the erring child, and gives the correct pronun- 
ciation. At the end of the period some children waver 
between the two pronunciations that were heard ; some 
remember only the incorrect one, and only a few re- 
member the correct one. If the only pronunciation 
that the children hear is the correct one, this confu- 
sion of auditory impressions is obviated. 

The meaning of new words: A second but dis- 
puted element in the technical preparation in reading 
is the study of new words. Some insist that all neces- 
sary new words should be explained before the actual 
reading is begun, in order (a) to insure thoughtful 
comprehension of the text, (b) to inspire a feeling of 
confidence in the child, and (c) to secure improved 
expressional reading which results from proper under- 
standing. Because of these reasons, these teachers 
therefore favor a "Meaning and Use" period before 
every reading lesson. 

But experience teaches, others argue, (a) that com- 
prehension is not guaranteed by a knowledge of the 
meaning of every word in the text. The underlying 
thought is deeper than the sum total of the component 

130 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

words or phrases, (b) True meaning is determined 
by context, hence words unknown in a list are rich in 
meaning when seen in natural associations, (c) The 
meaning finally derived in this analytical manner is 
more lasting than a mere formal definition, (d) What 
motive will the children feel for mastering a list of 
words, unless they see the context first and realize that 
comprehension of the matter is dependent upon com- 
prehension of the words? 

Both groups of teachers take extreme attitudes. It 
is undoubtedly wise to let children learn to subordinate 
a word to the underlying thought and to derive the 
meaning of a given word from its context. But when 
the meaning of an entire sentence or paragraph is ab- 
solutely dependent upon a few words or a phrase, it is 
equally unwise to proceed with the context which is 
certain to stir no thought in children's minds. The 
teacher's personal judgment, and not devices of meth- 
od, must dictate procedure in specific instructional 
situations. 

2. The Intellectual Preparation. — It is evident that 
before any selection is read, those facts which concern 
the time, the place, and the cause of the incident must 
be given or found. In the story of "Atalanta's Race," 
the teacher will either have to tell the children, or lead 
them to find out for themselves what an important 
place athletics occupied in the life of the ancient 
Greeks. But the intellectual preparation must be short, 
direct to the point, and take up an inappreciable part 
of the reading period. Only those facts should be 

131 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

brought out which will help comprehension and arouse 
interest in the content. 

3. The Emotional Preparation. — 'But almost all of 
the poetic and most of the prose selections to be read 
make an emotional as well as an intellectual appeal. 
Since emotions, like ideas, are interpreted in terms of 
kindred experiences, it is necessary to make children 
emotionally receptive for the emotional appeal of 
what is to be read. 

How can this emotional preparation be given ? The 
simplest means is through pictures. If the lesson is 
descriptive of natural scenery, a picture of a beautiful 
landscape may serve to put the child into an apprecia- 
tive attitude. The feelings of sympathy and charity, 
which should be in every child's breast as the "Poor 
Little Match Girl" is begun, can be stirred by a picture 
of the unfortunate little peddler. An appropriately se- 
lected picture can always arouse the emotion that 
should predominate in the reading lesson. 

A second means of giving an emotional preparation 
is to place the child in the midst of the most character- 
istic situation of the story and let him live through 
the inevitable joys or sorrows. Before beginning the 
"Children's Hour," let the pupils imagine themselves 
when their own fathers come home. A few chil- 
dren are then called upon to tell what happens in 
their homes at this hour. How do their brothers and 
sisters express their joy at the expected arrival? What 
signs give evidence of their father's eagerness to be 
with them? If the lesson tells of the conspiracy on 

132 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

board Columbus's ship, the teacher is anxious to stir 
in each child an admiration for the bravery and the 
unflinching determination of the discoverer. Let them 
imagine themselves in Columbus's place, overhearing 
the mutiny and the dire end planned for him, and then 
let them decide whether they personally would have 
decided to continue or have granted the sailors' de- 
mands. The same procedure was used with excellent 
results in "Excelsior." A series of review questions 
elicited from the children the topography of Switzer- 
land and the severity of the snowstorms. With this 
picture in their minds, they were asked,. "What dan- 
gers might befall you, if you started out on a journey 
just as such a storm was breaking out?" As the chil- 
dren saw themselves in the grip of Nature's fury, 
they suggested, "I might lose my way," "I might be 
buried in the snow," "I might be frozen to death," etc.' 
These are only a few of the tragic possibilities offered 
by a sixth-year class. While the children's imagina- 
tions were conjuring up added terrors of this situa- 
tion, the teacher said, "Let us see what befell the boy 
in Longfellow's story." The children began the poem 
with hearts that beat with sympathy for the hero of 
"Excelsior." If the reading selection has an emo- 
tional message every effort must be made to put 
the children in the most sympathetic attitude toward 
it. 

A third suggestion for giving an emotional prepara- 
tion counsels that we forestall any improper senti- 
ment or any possible vulgar interpretation that chil- 

^33 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

dren may evolve. A little classroom experience en- 
ables teachers to foretell what parts of a selection to 
omit, what incidents to pass over, and what expres- 
sions to guard against. In a seventh-year class "The 
Song of the Chattahoochee" roused almost continuous 
mirth. The beauty of the pictures, the richness of the 
symbolism, the vividness of the moral lesson, the charm 
of the music — all these were lost because "Chatta- 
hoochee" sounded suggestive to ears accustomed to 
the slang of the street. After the intellectual and the 
emotional preparation, but before the poem is read, 
the teacher should tell the class "But this river that is 
made so real by the poet has a peculiar name, an old 
Indian name, 'Chattahoochee.' " Many children will 
undoubtedly smile, but, when the name comes up in the 
actual reading it is not new, and does not endanger 
the dignity of the poet's message. 

Many a class has lost the force and the grandeur 
of the simple appeal for democracy in Burns' "A 
Man's a Man for A' That," by the coarse interpreta- 
tion of the line, "The rank is but the guinea's stamp." 
The vulgar slang of the street, rather than the poet's 
gospel, was uppermost in consciousness. How can 
we guard against such regrettable occurrences? A 
simple preparation may be of service. Ask the class, 
"What is meant by 'the dollar is not the stamp of char- 
acter' ?" "How would an English child say this sen- 
tence?" The usual answer which the children give is, 
"The pound ( £ ) is not the stamp of character." 
"How would the same English child say this, if he 

134 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

thought of the next higher denomination?" A titter 
pervades the class, but all the humor which the word 
can provoke is expended and the line in question is 
read with the dignity that it merits. The experienced 
teacher realizes that these are not isolated examples, 
but rather that they are typical of a host of instances in 
the day's work. 

Possible Procedures in a Reading Lesson. — In general, 
the procedure in the reading recitation is governed by 
the aim that the teacher selects for the lesson. Among 
the important forms which the reading lesson may 
take are found the following : 

1. The lesson may be read by the teacher as a model 

of articulation, enunciation and expression. 

2. The lesson may be read aloud by various pupils 

and their renditions discussed and criticized by 
their classmates. 

3. The lesson may be read silently by all the chil- 

dren preparatory to having its contents repro- 
duced, discussed, and used for oral composi- 
tion, or its new words and allusions explained, 
etc. 

4. The lesson may be read silently by the entire 

class, and then used for comparison with selec- 
tions previously read and studied. 

5. The lesson may be read by the teacher to the 

class or by the class itself, merely as a basis for 
a discussion of a moral issue that is involved. 

6. The lesson may be read aloud by children, be- 

135 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

cause it affords excellent means of teaching 
children to dramatize in reading. 

These forms of reading lessons are not mutually 
exclusive, but can be combined to give the recitation 
a more composite organization. Any one of these 
procedures, or any combination of these, may be used, 
provided the teacher is governed by consciously se- 
lected aims. 

The Procedure of an Intensive Reading Lesson. — It re- 
mains for us to set forth the detailed organization of 
an intensive reading lesson that seeks to make reading 
a thought process, to develop a literary sense, and to 
help children toward accurate speech. In mere out- 
line the steps in this intensive organization are : 

1. Reading the Selection as a Whole. 

2. Silent Reading. 

3. Oral Reading. 

4. Correction and Criticism of Children's Reading. 

5. Elaboration. 

6. Oral Composition. 

7. Comparison and Generalization. 

8. Final Review and Summary. 

These are the steps of a composite lesson; some of 
them may therefore be combined or omitted, accord- 
ing to the specific aim or aims that the teacher seeks to 
realize. 

I. Reading the Selection as a Whole. — Assuming 
that the preparation has been given, the next question 

136 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

is, "Shall the selection be read as a whole by the chil- 
dren at home, or by the teacher to the class?" No 
actual law can be posited. But, in the main, it may 
be said that all poetical selections should be read to the 
class by the teacher before the detailed study is begun. 
This oral rendition gives the children the rhythm, the 
atmosphere and even, perhaps, the message of the 
poet. The analytical study of each stanza gains im- 
measurably in appreciative power because of the teach- 
er's reading. But, in the average prose selection, the 
dominant interest for children is the content; if it is 
read at home by the pupils or in class by the teacher, 
this story interest is satisfied, and there is no other 
motive that will gain for it the necessary attention. 
This does not mean that home reading should not be 
encouraged. It simply advises against the assignment 
of home lessons in reading in these intermediary 
grades. Every inducement should be given children to 
join the library and read extensively in their hours of 
leisure. 

2. Silent Reading. — The selection or a logical part 
of it may now be assigned for silent reading. Children 
in lower grades may be asked to read rapidly and 
silently a paragraph or a stanza at a time; in higher 
grades, the selection may be broken into logical divi- 
sions, and each assigned for silent reading; in the 
highest grades the selection as a whole may be given 
in a single assignment. 

In making an assignment for silent reading, a time 
limit should be set. The children should be told to 

137 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

read the next stanza, or, the paragraphs describing a 
given scene and be ready to state the essential ideas at 
the end of a certain number of minutes. When the 
time limit is reached, the signal should be given and 
all eyes should be raised from the books. Children 
should then be called on promiscuously to tell what 
they gleaned in the rapid, silent perusal of the allotted 
portion. Through explanations, marks, and praise, 
children should be led to feel that this silent reading 
is as important as the much emphasized oral rendi- 
tions. G. Stanley Hall tells us: "Till children take 
pleasure in silent, cursive, passive reading of good 
literature, touching but not pressing the keys, learning 
the great task of catching the meaning of others' 
minds undistorted, the responsibility of the school does 
not entirely cease." 

This silent reading, under pressure of limited time, 
Mf made a regular part of every reading lesson, brings 
advantages that are far-reaching and permanent, (a) 
It develops the art of concentration, (b) It trains the 
eye to be an efficient tool in thought-getting, by subor- 
dinating words and symbols to sentences, (c) It in- 
sures a thought basis for oral reading, (d) It guar- 
antees better oral reading, for good expression is 
prompted by comprehension; he who seeks to read 
aloud well must constantly think of what, not how, to 
read. In a word, silent reading seeks to make reading 
a process of thinking. Miss Laing, in her excellent 
manual, tells us, "Conducting a reading lesson is con- 
ducting, controlling, shaping ... a process of think- 

138 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

ing in the mind of each individual in the class. . . . 
The author of the selection is in control of the think- 
ing process. . . . The teacher's value is measured by 
her power in helping forward this thinking process." 

y^ Z' Oral Reading. — The student of methodology in 
reading finds that current pedagogical thought seeks 
almost unanimously to discourage oral reading. "We 
have too much of this to-day," Huey tells us. Miss 
Laing adds, "Oral reading should be introduced as a 
single phase of reading work, i. e., as a means of self- 
expression." Hughes would make oral reading the 
exception rather than the rule. 

y The case against oral reading: The arguments of 
the opponents of oral reading reduce themselves to 
three: (a) Oral reading tends to undermine reading 
for thought. The child is made conscious of every 
word, of every punctuation mark, of every intonation 
of voice, of every enunciation, until his whole mind is 
monopolized by the symbols rather than the thought 
they represent. The habit of slow reading and of word 
consciousness makes impossible the development of 
habits of rapid, silent, thoughtful reading necessary in 
all later life, (b) Oral reading makes the child self- 
conscious of his limitations of speech, and thus fur- 
ther occupies the mind with symbols and their utter- 
ance, rather than with thought, (c) In all oral read- 
ing there is serious loss of time to all children who 
merely listen and who are forbidden to read faster 
than their classmate who reads to them. 

The case for oral reading: On the assumption that 
139 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

silent reading" is entirely eliminated and oral reading is 
the exclusive form of reading used in the classroom, 
the arguments listed above are true in all that they 
state and even imply. But such a perverted emphasis 
on oral reading is most unusual. 
\ Despite the inestimable advantages of silent reading, 
oral reading must occupy a coordinate position 
with it in class teaching for many reasons, (a) The 
teacher must test the child's knowledge of the 
symbols. In rapid, silent thought reading the 
child gives no evidence of what symbols he does not 
know, (b) Oral reading is a test of the thought ac- 
quired. By the voice and intonation the teacher knows 
that the child has the author's idea, (c) Clearness 
and accuracy of articulation and enunciation and cor- 
rect use of voice are desiderata in all oral speech. It 
is in oral reading that the child's limitations in these 
speech elements • are noted and appropriate drills 
planned for the following phonic lessons, (d) Words 
and phrases have their own worth. They add to 
every pupil's expressional and interpretational vocabu- 
lary. In silent reading words and phrases may be lost 
in the search for the underlying thought; in the oral 
reading words and expressions are given their true 
worth, (e) But even from the point of view of 
thought and artistic appreciation oral reading must be 
given almost equal rank with silent reading in school. 
The dignity, the force, the cadence and the music in 
literary language can better be felt in oral than in 
silent reading. If the reader is in doubt, let him study 

140 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

the results of the two forms of reading when applied 
either to Lincoln's Gettysburg address or to the "Song 
of the Chattahoochee" : 

Out of the hills of Habersham, 

Down the valleys of Hall, 
I hurry amain to reach the plain, 

Run the rapid and leap the fall, 
Split at the rock and together again, 

Accept my bed, or narrow or wide. 
And flee from folly on every side 

With a lover's pain to attain the plain 
Far from the hills of Habersham, 

Far from the valleys of Hall. 

' Suggestions for procedure in oral reading: 
a. Consciousness of an Audience. The oral reading 
would gain much in its appeal if the children were 
made to feel that they have an actual audience to whom 
they are telling something entertaining or instructive. 
The child who reads should face the class for the spirit 
which comes from the sight of expectant faces. Every 
speaker knows that the audience contributes as much 
to the effectiveness of his address as does his subject. 
Give the child, in a smaller way, the thrill of an audi- 
ence. The children in their seats should often be re- 
quired to shut their books and learn to listen atten- 
tively. In upper grades children should be allowed to 
select their own material for oral reading. That selec- 
tion which appeals most to a child he should be permit- 
ted to read to his classmates. If the selection is long, 

141 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

two or three children who like it may divide it up 
among them and each read his allotted share. No 
effective and convincing rendition is possible when a 
child sees the backs of his classmates' heads and is 
conscious that he is reading, not because he has some- 
thing to say, but merely because his turn has come in 
the course of the teacher's endeavor to form an esti- 
mate of the pupil's reading ability. 
I b. No Interruptions. It is imperative that the child 
who reads should not be stopped to correct every error 
he commits. These repeated interruptions make read- 
ing for thought impossible, and cause a self-conscious- 
ness which renders every succeeding phrase more diffi- 
cult to read. All corrections should be reserved for 
the end of the child's assignment. If the pupil's read- 
ing is very poor, he may be stopped, — for the benefit 
of the rest of the class, — in the middle of the para- 
graph or stanza ; this is not an interruption, but a cur- 
tailment of the assignment. 

i c. Teacher Not to Follow in the Book. The teach- 
er who desires to form a true estimate of a child's 
clearness and accuracy of speech will find it advisable 
to rely solely on the auditory impressions. When she 
follows the child in her own book the visual impres- 
sions automatically arouse their auditory images and 
the teacher's ear is adjusted for the correct sound. 
Reading that she judged clear and accurate while she 
followed the printed page might become indistinct and 
inaccurate when the book is laid aside. Practical ex- 
periences give evidence of this fact. 

142 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

d. The Social Spirit Must Prevail. Unless the mo- 
tives which prompt speech in real social intercourse 
are present during oral reading, most of the children's 
renditions will lack enthusiasm and sincerity. The 
initial suggestions, viz., that each child should feel that 
he has an audience, that he is reading something worth 
telling others, that the class should occasionally listen 
with closed books, that children be allowed to choose 
the selection that they would like to read to their class- 
mates — all these sought to offer means of promoting 
the social spirit in oral reading. In many classes ex- 
cellent bulletin boards are maintained in connection 
with geography and history by encouraging children 
to search for appropriate clippings and articles in 
newspapers and magazines. Once a week the best of 
these articles should be read to the class by the chil- 
dren who found them. This is oral reading, but the 
motive of real life is preserved in the classroom. The 
shorter selections in the readers should be given out 
to children who will feel their responsibility for the 
best oral rendition of these; the best compositions of 
each week, good answers in written tests, and intelli- 
gent results of assigned reference reading should be 
read orally to the class by their respective authors. 
These suggestions may serve to show the teacher how 
varied and plentiful are the devices for preserving the 
social spirit in all oral reading. 

How to judge oral reading: What qualities shall 
the teacher seek in the children's oral reading? The 
simplicity of the standard suggested is explained by 

143 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

the fact that it is designed only for the elementary 
school. 

1. Voice: Loud and of Proper Pitch. 

'Articulation. 

2. Clearness- Enunciation. 

Pronunciation. 

3. Expression. 

The Voice. It is evident that the reading must be 
loud enough for all to hear. During the oral reading 
one constantly hears the teacher urging "Louder," 
"Louder" as each child in muffled tones runs through 
the allotted paragraph. Much of this inaudible read- 
ing is caused by the feeling in each child that he is 
reading for the teacher. When the teacher approaches 
the child who is reciting the tone is lowered ; when the 
teacher walks in the opposite direction the volume of 
voice is unconsciously increased. Give the child an 
audience and inspire in him the belief that he is read- 
ing something worth his classmates' attention and in 
most cases the voice is regulated so that it reaches the 
pupils in the last row. 

There is danger, as a result of constant demands for 
"louder reading," that the voice will be pitched too 
high and become noisy, strained or harsh. With such 
children improvement can be achieved ( i ) by inviting 
imitation of the well-modulated voice of the teacher 
or of other children, (2) by frequent breathing drills, 
and (3) by plenty of singing exercises involving 

144 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

"octave twists." Detailed suggestions will be found 
in such books as are listed in the bibliography at the 
end of the chapter on "Phonics." 

Clearness. When reading lacks clearness the fault 
may be found, first, in the child's articulation. The 
term "articulation" has reference to the joining of 
sounds or syllables into words. (Artus, a joint.) 
The common errors of articulation may be grouped 
under three heads : 

(a) Errors of Omission: histr'y, pome (poem), 
government, singin', etc. 

(b) Errors of Insertion : coste'd, hurte'd. 

(c) Error of Slurring Final Letters of Words in 
Sentences : He wen' away. He an' I were there. In 
sounding words in a list the child would probably say 
went, and, but when these words are used in sentences, 
final t and d are slurred. 

The term "enunciation" has reference to the utter- 
ance of sounds, usually consonant sounds. Thus, the 
person who says kingk, vhich, wery, becau(sss)e, etc., 
is not enunciating these sounds according to the stand- 
ards of the English language. 

"Pronunciation" is a more general term and refers 
to correct articulation, proper enunciation, the correct 
placing of the accent and the cadence of the language. 
The Frenchman whose articulation and enunciation in 
the word difficidty are correct is nevertheless not pro- 
nouncing the word correctly for he reads it difficulty. 
So, too, the music which is characteristic of his native 
tongue he carries over to the English and loses the 

145 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

cadence and the intonations that make the music of our 
language. 

The methods of correcting faulty articulations, 
enunciations, and pronunciations are explained and 
illustrated in the chapter on "Phonics." The reader 
is therefore referred to the appropriate headings in 
Chapter VIII. 

Expression. By expression in reading is meant the 
oral utterance of a thought in a manner which conveys 
the meaning, suggests the imagery and stirs the emo- 
tions intended by the author. Proper expression is 
therefore a composite result, including changing pitch, 
voice control, speed, rhythm, emphasis, pauses, and 
accuracy of pronunciation. We shall not consider 
"expression" from this complex viewpoint, but take it 
merely as it was defined — the quality in reading which 
conveys to the auditor the meaning, the imagery, and 
the emotions of another. 

The teacher of elementary grades is interested in 
the practical problem, "How can we train children for 
better expression in reading?" The suggestions for 
attaining this end follows : 

a. Know the thought. Consciousness is more mo- 
tor than mental. Every changing idea, every transi- 
tory emotion, works itself out in some physical form. 
If the child knows the content and has caught its 
meaning he is assured of the first factor that makes 
for expression. The teacher can now see the value of 
the intellectual preparation before the reading, of using 
the text for oral composition and of preceding oral 

146 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

reading by silent reading; these are only means to a 
higher end — the acquisition and comprehension of the 
thought. 

b. Develop self-expression. A current fallacy 
holds that expressional ability is developed by inces- 
sant practice in expressing the ideas of others. If a 
knowledge of the thought is the first condition for ex- 
pression, we can readily see that only as we insist on 
natural and expressive speech in all oral language and 
in every recitation are we training children for better 
expression in formal oral reading. 

c. Feel the situation. But mere comprehension is 
not enough in an emotional situation. The child must 
be made part of circumstance ; he must lose himself in 
the fortunes and vicissitudes of the characters if he is 
to arouse the dominant feeling of the author in others. 
Children are naturally expressive. Listen to the spir- 
ited description that the little girl gives her friend of 
a new dress or the animated narrative of the lad who 
saw an athletic game! In the classroom this natural 
enthusiasm, this native expressiveness, are lost because 
children are made self-conscious. 

How can children be kept less self-conscious and 
more imaginative in the formal lesson? The first 
means is through skillful emotional preparations. 
These were described in detail and must therefore be 
dismissed here with a mere mention. A second effec- 
tive means is through dramatizations. Let children act 
every appropriate situation. If the reading selection is 
a dialogue let two children impersonate the two char- 

147 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

acters. In the sentence, "Rather startled, he hesitat- 
ingly asked, 'Why did you send for me?' " a smooth 
and rapid reading should not be accepted. The child 
must read the question as it was asked by the startled 
character. When the child reads "The portly little 
Dutchman waddled along, puffing slowly and regularly 
at his pipe," ask him to execute the actions portrayed. 
If the paragraph contains, "With puzzled expression 
the old man replied, 'I hardly know why these ships 
are in port,' " the teacher must reject the rendition 
given with a confident air. Let the child assume the 
thinking attitude and the knit brow and his reading 
is now slow, thoughtful, and uncertain in tone. If 
these dramatizations are begun early and used regu- 
larly the children will gain facility in these renditions 
and retain their natural expressiveness in these class- 
room readings. 

d. Encourage a social spirit in all reading les- 
sons. In this chapter we took occasion to emphasize 
the fact that no spirited and sincere rendition of the 
text is possible if children read merely because they 
have been so ordered by their teacher who stands in 
judgment over them. Unless the child. who reads to 
his classmates is actuated by a desire to communicate 
to them something that he knows they are anxious to 
hear, no expressive reading can be hoped for. Read- 
ing must never become a perfunctory exercise. The 
suggestions for fostering this social spirit are enume- 
rated in detail in the previous treatment of this topic.^ 

* See pages 141-2, 143 . 

148 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

e. Remove formal difficulties. Unless the child 
can give himself exclusively to the thought and the 
interpretation of the text expressive reading must suf- 
fer. It is for this reason that a formal preparation 
was suggested so that new and difficult words will not 
be encountered without a previous drill. From the 
very beginning children must read in sentences and 
make thought focal. 

f. Imitation of the teacher develops expressive- 
ness in children. The trite pedagogical maxim, "Lan- 
guage is an imitative acquisition," suggests the impor- 
tant part that the teacher's speech plays in developing 
correct expression. The teacher whose voice is 
not well modulated, and whose speech is not well 
phrased, can hope to accomplish little in the improve- 
ment of expression in reading. No matter how real is 
the social spirit of the lesson or how intensely the chil- 
dren feel the situation, the drab tone and the monotony 
of the teacher's voice will be imitated and all reading 
will fall into a perfunctory routine. 

4. Correction of the Child's Reading. — After a 
child has read orally he must receive corrections and 
constructive criticism. Before the teacher offers these 
the class must be given an opportunity to express its 
judgment. For this reason the outline of qualifica- 
tions of good reading, that was suggested, must be kept 
in view of the children so that they know along what 
lines to criticize. The child who reads should be asked 
if he can correct his rendition. A child should be 
saved from criticism if he knows his own errors. His 

149 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

classmates should then be called upon to offer correc- 
tions and criticisms both favorable and unfavorable. 
One of the best means of keeping the class intent on 
the paragraph that is being read is to make each child 
feel that he may be called upon to correct his class- 
mate. Care must be taken to avoid a spirit of prig- 
gishness, and of unjust criticism, and to allow the child 
who is criticized an opportunity to answer his critics. 

When this reaction has been achieved by the class 
the teacher offers the necessary corrections and makes 
such criticism as is deemed helpful. But only on the 
rarest occasions should the child be called upon to re- 
read his assignment. If the pupil next to be called on 
is a poor reader or has a speech defect, the teacher 
should read the paragraph first so that the exception- 
ally poor reader has a good model to imitate. It is 
wise, also, to have such children read privately to the 
teacher in order to save them from any possible humil- 
iation or ultra self-consciousness, and the rest of the 
class from listening to incorrect speech. 

5. The Elaboration. — The intensive study now de- 
mands that the elements of literary appreciation be 
taken up. Words whose meanings should be known, 
beauty of diction, character delineation, plot develop- 
ment, striking figures, moral issues — these should be 
explained. 

But a word of caution is necessary in all intensive 
study: Beware of overintensiveness. The selection 
that is studied must not drag; it must move forward 
and keep satisfying the child's desire for new situa- 

150 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

tions. It is dangerous to stop for all new words, for 
every touch of beautiful diction or character portrayal. 
Every teacher must prepare her lesson with a discrim- 
inative sense that prompts liberal eliminations. In in- 
tensive literary study we must stop only at those posi- 
tive elements that promote literary insight and literary 
appreciation. 

A second word of caution advises against a common 
fault of directing all questions pertaining to interpre- 
tation or rhetorical analysis to the same child who has 
read orally. Such a procedure victimizes one child and 
encourages others in their mental wanderings. All 
questions designed to bring to the surface the literary 
treasures of any text should be asked of the entire 
class and children should be called upon individually 
in some promiscuous order. Unless the self-activity 
of each child is properly aroused and continuously di- 
rected, the elaboration of the reading text becomes fu- 
tile and deadening. 

6. Oral Composition. — At every important logical 
pause in the selection the class should be stopped for an 
informal discussion of the text. The questions should 
be broad and liberal and designed to summarize, to 
elicit opinions, and to provoke judgments on the in- 
stances of the selection. The endeavor throughout 
should be to encourage spontaneous and enthusiastic 
expression. If children, in the course of their talk, 
glance at the page and incorporate such words and 
phrases as they feel will express their meaning best, no 
condemnatory remark should be made. A child who 

151 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

does this has already acquired such an appreciation of 
the worth of certain verbal elements as to incorporate 
them into his expressional vocabulary. Every inten- 
sive reading lesson must furnish opportunity for rich 
and interesting oral composition and must make its 
contribution toward the child's expressional powers. 

7. Comparisons and Generalizations. — After hav- 
ing decided on the appropriate reading matter for any 
given part of the term, the teacher should try to group 
the individual selections in such a way that interesting 
comparisons will result from having similar or oppo- 
site themes follow in succession. If the "Children's 
Hour" is to be read for the first lesson the "First 
Snowfall" should be selected for the second. In the 
comparison the children can be led to see that the 
theme, parental love, is the same in both, but while the 
one is written in a major key, happy and buoyant, the 
other is in the minor key and reveals the plucking at 
the heartstrings of the poor father. To the children 
such a comparison makes each poem richer in associa- 
tions, permanent in impression and deeper in apprecia- 
tion. An examination of any good literary reader will 
reveal a host of opportunities for similar comparisons 
that allow for most interesting oral composition. 

But comparisons bring to the surface not only dif- 
ferences but underlying likenesses which serve as the 
basis of all generalization. If at the end of the com- 
parison a moral principle can be drawn, or a useful 
generalization elicited, it would be unwise to neglect 
it. But the teacher should not hesitate to omit this 

152 r 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

step if she feels that the comparisons will be forced or 
that the selection must be bled for a moral. 

8. Final Review and Summary. — A final question 
in the intensive literary study concerns itself with the 
re-reading of the selection. In the main, prose selec- 
tions should not be re-read because their main interest 
for the children is their content. Much more can be 
done for the children by having them read new matter. 
But with a poem circumstances differ. There the 
main interest lies in the treatment of the theme, in the 
language and the rich imagery. After an analytical 
study of each stanza a final reading of the whole poem 
by the teacher unifies it in the minds of the children 
and leaves them with a rich and rhythmic impression 
of the poet's message. 

The final review of the content of any selection, 
whether prose or poetic, can be made interesting, not 
by exact reproduction, but by a discussion of broad 
comparative questions. A few of these are offered by 
way of illustration : 

"Suggest another but equally appropriate title for 
this story." 

'Tf you were to write the story of this poem, how 
many paragraphs would you make?" "What would 
be the topic of each?" 

"What stanza in this poem tells most about X's 
character, most about his life?" "Prove your answer 
by comparing it with others." 

"Who in to-day's lesson is the exact opposite of A 
in the last selection?" "Contrast the two." 

153 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

"Point out three striking qualities in the character 
of B." "Tell what he does, and what he says that 
show these traits." 

"Can you give a temptation in your own life that is 
parallel to the temptation felt by B ?" 

Extensive Reading Lessons. — The practical teacher 
sees at once serious inherent limitations in the intensive 
reading lessons as outlined in the preceding pages. It 
is obvious that too limited an amount would be covered 
in the time allotted to reading, and consequently too 
little literature would be read in the school course. 
The degree of thoroughness prescribed would enable 
a teacher to call on too few children in any one period. 
In a class of forty most pupils would recite only once 
in a fortnight. The limitations of intensive reading 
make necessary extensive reading lessons. 

Objects of Extensive Reading. — There are two ends 
that must be served in extensive reading, (i) more 
practice in reading must be provided for the children, 
and (2) a familiarity with a wide field of literature 
must be given. These two aims can be attained in ex- 
tensive reading, for unlike intensive reading, its object 
is not thorough, sympathetic comprehension and accu- 
rate interpretation, but rather an acquaintanceship with 
the gems of language. 

Extensive Reading Designed to Give Practice in 
Oral Reading. — Early in the term teachers should set 
aside those selections of the term's reading which are 
simple and require a minimum of explanation and elab- 
oration. These should be reserved for extensive read- 

154 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

ing and should be given to the class as frequently as 
the proficiency of the children seems to indicate. The 
preparation for the extensive reading lesson is the same 
as for the intensive. But in the reading itself silent 
reading and elaboration are usually eliminated; the 
children read and are corrected. At logical pauses the 
main trend of the selection is reviewed briefly and oral 
reading is again taken up. Since the quantitative side 
of reading and practice in oral rendition are the aims, 
this procedure is designed to meet them. 

Extensive Reading for Familiarity With Literature. 
— But if the aim is to give a wider acquaintance with 
literature, many supplementary aids must be sought, 
(i) Oral reading and elaborations should be reduced 
and silent reading encouraged. (2) Every attempt 
should be made to have children read at home in the 
hours of leisure. Special periods should be set aside 
when children report to their classmates on the books 
they read and illustrate their talk by oral readings of 
the most favored parts. These reports are successful 
aids toward starting children to read. (3) Reading 
circles organized and directed by teachers produce 
these same results. (4) Where possible, select a long 
story like "Ten Boys," "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Robin- 
son Crusoe," for serial reading by the teacher. (5) 
Regular periods when stories are told or read to the 
class can be made very suggestive if the teacher will 
at the end of each narration offer a list of similar 
stories and their authors. (6) Where each class has 
a class library, as in the New York City schools, the 

155 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

teacher should study the library record carefully and 
find reasons why some children do not read or why 
certain good books are unread. This cannot be done 
unless the system for keeping this record is convenient 
and gives all the necessary information at a glance. 
The following chart which is ruled on a large card- 
board has proved very helpful : 



Library Record Class 6B>, P. 


S. No. — 


Term Beginning February, 1913 




The Books 


The Class 


Ten Boys 


Uncle 
Tom's 
Cabin 


Wild Ani- 
mals I Have 
Known 


Poor Boys 

Who Became 

Famous 


Around the 
Worid in 
80 Days 


Adams, William 


2/8 


2/1S 


2/26 






Brown, James 




2/8 


2/lS 






Conroy, John 


2/24 




2/8 






Davis, Henry 


2/15 




2/8 






Ellson, Morris 










2/8 


(Names 












Arranged 












alphabetically) 

























Enter in appropriate space date when each book is taken ; 
Adams, Wm., read three books, taken Feb. 8, 15 and 26, respec- 
tively. 

Draw colored line through date when a book is returned in 
good condition. 

Such a record takes little time to keep, and shows at a 
glance what books are popular, what boys read, and 
how much each boy reads. Knowing these facts, the 
teacher can take measures to increase the popularity 
of a good book and to encourage a child who does not 
read. 

Group Work in Reading — One of the difficult 
156 



READING IN THE INTERMEDIARY GRADES 

problems in teaching reading in the intermediary 
grades is the great discrepancy in the abiHties of the 
children in any one grade. These variations in ability 
are equaled only by the variations in the needs of 
these children. In class teaching each child is cor- 
rected only when called upon and is never given a 
specific, set of drills designed to correct his personal 
shortcomings, and bring him up to grade. It becomes 
necessary, therefore, to group children according to 
their weaknesses and to give them instruction designed 
to meet their needs. 

But individual teaching in our present class organ- 
ization is impossible. Hence it becomes necessary to 
group children according to common failings, and then 
differentiate instruction accordingly. What grouping 
can be suggested ? 

Group I. Children lacking in power of word recog- 
nition. 

Group II. Children lacking in power of comprehen- 
sion. 

Group III. Children lacking in expressive and con- 
vincing oral rendition. 

Group IV. Children lacking in clearness of speech, 
in articulation, enunciation, etc. 

For the first group the work in phonics with its 
analysis, blend, family words, etc., must be gone over 
again. The second group must be trained to listen, to 
read silently, to reproduce ; special effort must be made 
to increase vocabulary and train in association of sym- 
bol and idea. For the third group all the suggestions 

157 

I f ^(/ 



TEACHING CHILDREN t6 READ 

that were made under the topic of Expression must 
be appHed conscientiously. The discussion of Clear- 
ness in the present chapter and The Elimination of 
Habitual Mispronunciations in the chapter on "Pho- 
nics" will suggest the mode of procedure for the 
fourth group. 

Only as we approximate the specific needs of each 
group are we raising reading to gradually higher levels 
in each successive grade, and successfully paving the 
way for the comprehension and appreciation of literary 
masterpieces in the last two years of the school course. 



SUGGESTED READING 



Clark, S. H. How to Read Aloud. Chicago University 
Publications, 1897. 

Chubb, P. The Teaching of English, chaps. VII, X. 

GoLDWASSER, I. E. Method and Methods in the Teach- 
ing of English, chap. V. 

Haliburton and Smith. Teaching of Poetry in the 
Grades, Houghton, Mifflin Co. 

Laing, Mary E. Reading: A Manual for Teachers, 
chaps. IV, V, VI, XII, XIII, XIV. 

McMurry, Charles A. Special Method in Reading for 
the Grades. Macmillan Co. 

Taylor, J. S. Principles and Methods of Teaching 
Reading, 128-162. 





CHAPTER X 

THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

READING IN THE LAST TWO YEARS OF THE SCHOOL 
COURSE 

Is literature an Elementary School Subject? — For a 
long time the school was conceived as a formal insti- 
tution, with a very formal subject-matter and a still 
more formal method. Its sole function was to give the 
symbols of knowledge. The mechanics of reading 
and the ability to attack a new combination of old let- 
ters marked the limits of reading in the elementary 
school. The cuhural aspects of the elementary sub- 
jects were deemed far beyond the immature intellec- 
tual powers of the child. Hence literature, the art, or 
cultural aspect of reading, was accorded no place in 
the curriculum because its appreciation presupposed 
too great a stock of mental powers. 

The busy teacher often forgets that the child comes 
to her with feelings, interests, and impulses, which are 
well ingrained and are part of childhood, if not child- 
hood itself. These inherent desires and capacities, 
when properly aroused and directed, become the basis 
for literary appreciation. The inherent characteris- 

159 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

tics of literature are such as appeal to this native stock 
of childhood interests. What are these natural crav- 
ings of children that make possible the appreciation of 
literature ? Children bring to literature : 

1. A desire for a wider world, a craving for ex- 
periences outside of the realm of the immediate en- 
vironment in which they live. 

2. A craving for the joy which comes from using 
one's imagination. The highly imaginative child loves 
to be transported into the realm of nowhere, where the 
fairies reign and the sprites defy natural laws, 

3. A love for the beautiful. The child's aesthetic 
sense, however crude, shows a definite craving for the 
artistic. Children are attracted by pictures, beautiful 
color and harmonious sounds. They strive for the 
beautiful in their decorative and constructional de- 
signs ; they give evidence of a sense of rhythm in 
their concert recitations and songs. While their 
aesthetic standards must be modified and refined, they 
nevertheless bespeak a craving which literature can 
satisfy. 

4. A strong inclination toward hero-worship. 
Every child yearns for some hero in whom he can pin 
his faith. While he is too young to understand the 
elements of character, he nevertheless sees them con- 
crete in his heroes. The child has a sense of moral 
values. He knows what is good and what is bad, what 
to censure and what to praise in human conduct. 
Though the child may not be able to discuss his hero, 
he feels the heroism in him enough to admire him. 

160 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

Literature, surely, is capable of satisfying this yearn- 
ing. 

5. A love for the story. The child's passion for 
the story is too well known to need more than passing 
mention; "once upon a time" is music to his ear. 

6. A desire to express his impulses. The child 
finds a keen joy in telling as well as listening, in ex- 
pressing what he feels most and loves best. Children 
love to engage in dramatics. 

The child brings this stock of native cravings to his 
literary study. Literature can satisfy these, for it is 
itself the product of these very emotions and yearn- 
ings of the race. 

The initial question, "Can literature be taught in the 
school?" is hence answered. But if by teaching lit- 
erature we mean giving a thorough intellectual com- 
prehension of the subject-matter, then the answer 
must be a decided negative. If we mean giving an 
"appreciation," then the answer is decidedly affirma- 
tive, for "appreciation" is "caught, not taught." If 
children came to us with no native interests this "ap- 
preciation" could not be caught. But coming as they 
do with a rich basis for literary appreciation, we have 
only to call forth what already exists. We need only 
apply the magic touch, and speak the "open sesame" 
and the child's potentialities for literary appreciation 
awaken. The only condition necessary before the 
"open sesame" can be uttered is a stirring enthusiasm 
on the part of the teacher. We cannot teach others to 
like what we ourselves do not love. We cannot lead 

161 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

others to revere what we ourselves do not worship. 
Enthusiasm begets enthusiasm, but out of passive in- 
terest no inspiration springs. 

Why Did the Masterpieces Replace the School Readers ? 
— The introduction of the masterpieces in the school 
course is of recent date. A short time ago the school 
readers with their varied literary diet were eliminated 
from the last years of the school course. The reasons 
that led to this change are indices of the limitations of 
the school readers. 

1. The old readers were "scrappy." They gave 
snatches of everything and therefore there was lack 
of unity, of purpose, and of organization. 

2. They gave no lasting impression. How many 
selections we read in the ten or twelve readers that 
we used throughout our own school course ! Yet how 
vague are our recollections of these stories, incidents, 
characters and pictures. As we recall a masterpiece 
that we have read carefully by ourselves or studied 
in class, what a delightful contrast is there in results! 
How vivid is the panorama of scenes and incidents 
that flits before us even after this long lapse of time! 
Characters are still real and dramatic situations are 
still pregnant with tragic elements. 

3. The old readers catered to the fickle interest of 
the child. A child's round of desires is ever-changing. 
His joy in a new toy is short-lived. These old readers 
pandered to the temporary and evanescent interests of 
the child and thus tended to encourage a temperament 
which weakens intellect and character. 

162 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

But we must not forget that in the earher grades 
these readers serve a useful purpose. They have im- 
portant functions which they serve well. In earlier 
grades it is necessary to teach the mechanics of reading 
and give practice in symbol interpretation in order to 
pave the way for the literary work which should cap 
the school course in reading. This these readers ac- 
complish. Because of the child's limited ability and 
experience in reading a graded course is necessary; 
this, too, such readers give. And, lastly, there are a 
number of shorter literary gems that the child should 
carry with him. These are given in the above men- 
tioned readers. The old readers serve these ends well, 
but because they give an "old, stale, sterile, lean" and 
lifeless literary diet, they have been supplanted by a 
sustained study of the simpler masterpieces. But we 
must not go to the other extreme. The school course 
must give the child a knowledge and an appreciation of 
the shorter gems of the languages. If a seventh-year 
class studies "Evangeline" it should not fail to take, in 
the same term, a number of short selections of the 
type of "The Chambered Nautilus." The intensive 
study of a masterpiece must not exclude extensive 
reading of shorter literary units in poetry, essay or 
narrative form. 

Values of the Masterpiece. — But aside from the nega- 
tive function of counteracting the limitations of the old 
readers, what are the specific values of the master- 
piece? We must stop for a discussion of these values 
because they determine the aims of instruction and the 

163 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

organization of methods of teaching. The manifold 
values of the masterpiece may be grouped under four 
heads. 

1. The Practical Value: 

a. A study of the masterpieces introduces the child 
to the best that we have to offer in our literary pos- 
session. 

b. The masterpiece gives the child a rich fund of 
knowledge of people, incidents, motives — in a word, 
of life; it supplements the child's past acquisition by 
adding interesting side-lights on the child's own ex- 
perience. To quote, "It gives us an inventory of the 
heritage of the knowledge of humanity." 

c. The masterpiece humanizes the child, by giving 
him a picture of all of man's relations in society, his 
relation in the family, among his friends, in peace, in 
war, in civic and social life, in religion, etc. Every 
phase of life is brought within the ken of the child for 
his immediate scrutiny. Thus he is offered "a libera- 
tion from the confining bonds of personal experience." 

2. The Study Value: 

a. It develops the power for sustained interest. 
The content of the masterpiece grips the child and 
works a remarkable change in his power of attention. 
His ever-changing interests are arrested by a sustained 
story that has one series of incidents and one set of 
characters. Each succeeding term's work brings 

164 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

greater facility in sustaining attention, and directing 
effort toward the same end. 

b. It gives a unity of impression, which results in 
a lasting effect. This is due primarily to the fact that 
the masterpiece gives a consistent and a cumulative im- 
pression. An author's power is always lost in the iso- 
lated selections found in readers. The force and the 
virility of Webster's "Bunker Hill Oration" are dissi- 
pated in the excerpts used for readers. How mon- 
strous is Shylock, if we read only certain selections! 
Yet how different is our estimate of his actions 
when we see them in their proper setting in the play. 
How abusive is King Lear as we read of him in ex- 
tracts ! Yet how willing are we to forgive his vituper- 
ations as the whole situation is shown in the play! 
The impressions that selections and extracts give are 
misleading, temporary and even erroneous. The im- 
pressions of the whole masterpiece are reliable and 
permanent, for there is a unity of view that makes for 
verisimilitude. 

3. The Intellectual Value: 

a. It trains the creative imagination. The imag- 
ination of the young child is not only active, but 
riotous and fantastical; it is the imagination which 
by a wave of the wand turns the hovel into a glittering 
palace of gold and crystal. But the imagination which 
education must develop is the more mature imagina- 
tion, which creates the possible. This is the imagina- 
tion which brings forth new inventions, practical re- 

165 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

forms, and visions of improved social life. Literature 
can train the constructive imagination through its ver- 
bal pictures, its portrayals of all situations. There are 
many ways in which we can take advantage of the pos- 
sibilities here offered for training the imagination. The 
simplest method is to encourage the child to give a 
pictorial or diagrammatic representation of the action 
or the picture contained in the text. Actual motor ex- 
pression of the content is a second method of training 
imagination. When the child reads, "And Rip trudged 
along wearily, with his gun on his shoulder," the 
natural tendency is to pass over the picture. Make 
the child "trudge along wearily" in imitation of Rip. 
Now the child "sees" the picture, otherwise, he could 
never dramatize the action. This mental imaging of 
the author's picture trains the imagination in the edu- 
cational sense. Another and still simpler method for 
directing the imagination is by verbal description. Ask 
the child to visualize the picture and describe the com- 
ponent elements and the characteristic details. The 
child thus again helps the mind's power to picture the 
real and the possible. Training the imagination does 
not mean, therefore, stimulating an oversensitive and 
ultra active power for rich imagery. 

b. The masterpiece affords opportunities for the 
exercise of reason and judgment in practical and 
worldly relations. Throughout the masterpiece the 
child is asked to discover the meaning of passages, to 
interpret statements, to judge motives, to estimate 
character. Thought in literature differs from the for- 

i66 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

mal reasoning of verbal or quantitative relationships in 
grammar or arithmetic, but closely approximates the 
practical reasoning which confronts us daily in life. 
How to bring out the thought value of literature will 
be considered in the discussion of the method of teach- 
ing the masterpiece. 

4. The Character Value: 

To many teachers of English the ethical value of 
the masterpiece is its ultimate justification. They base 
their stand on the fact that the child who is introduced 
to this phase of literature is rapidly approaching the 
period of adolescence. The changes in the physical, 
intellectual and emotional life of the child bring an 
awakening maturity in outlook, in desires and tastes. 
It is a period when ideals are selected and conduct is 
beset with conflicting impulses; it is a period of ma- 
turing thought. The moralities heretofore taught on 
the basis of parental authority are now questioned. 
This truly is the period of "Sturm und Drang," when 
moral guidance and inspiration are especially neces- 
sary. 

Matthew Arnold tells us that there are two elements 
in human nature that crave especially for literature; 
these are a sense of the beautiful and a sense of con- 
duct. Literature is especially fitted to answer the sec- 
ond as well as the first appeal for many reasons : 

a. It makes concrete and personal ethical principles 
that are abstract and impersonal. Unselfish devotion 
is not an abstraction. Evangeline is a living embodi- 

167 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

ment of this virtue. Patriotism and altruism are taken 
out of the realm of unattainable virtues and made 
tangible and attainable in the living character, Brutus. 
We have here then a crystallization of the ideals of 
humanity. 

b. The literary masterpiece so presents characters 
that it wins the child's love for the good and its dis- 
approval of the wrong. It appeals to an elemental 
sense of justice inherent in childhood. 

c. It supplies "The Expulsive Power of Higher 
Emotions." Our psychology tells us that no two con- 
flicting emotions can control the mind for any time. 
Either one or the other obtains the mastery and thus 
has the upper hand. Awaken a noble desire or feeling 
and a baser one immediately dies. Pity will at once 
banish hate, confidence at once expels fear, admiration 
kills treachery. Ethical training would be impossible 
if we had to eradicate the baser nature before implant- 
ing nobler ideals. The mere fact that the presence of 
a lofty ideal in the mind at once precludes the existence 
of a meaner motive of conduct, makes ethical training 
possible through the inculcation of positive ideals. Lit- 
erature fills the mind with the loftier sentiments and 
thus gives them an expulsive power over the lower 
ones. 

d. The emotional appeal guarantees action. A 
formal ethical lesson without an appeal to the emotions 
is usually not effective. It appeals to the intellect, and 
brings conviction, but not action. The ultimate en- 
deavor of ethical teaching is to influence action and 

i68 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

change conduct. This can be achieved only as we ap- 
peal to emotions, the springs to action. The appeal 
of literature is intensely emotional. 

e. It creates a love for reading. The masterpiece 
is important as a character influence, because of the 
permanent habits it tends to develop. Taught prop- 
erly, it inculcates a desire to read, a love for the better 
forms of literature, and thus gives the child a perma- 
nent source of inspiration, a lifelong medium of whole- 
some recreation. 

Conclusion. — The influence of literature is hence 
keen and positive, bringing an ever ready response in 
its appeal to the heart, for the Proverbs tell us "As in 
the water, face answereth face, so the heart of man, to 
man." Whitman strikes the same note when he as- 
sures us, 

Surely, whoever speaks to me in the right voice, him or 

her shall I follow, 
As the water follows the moon, silently, with fluid steps, 

anywhere around the globe. 

Teaching the Masterpiece — Now that we have seen 
the objects that are to be attained in the study of lit- 
erary masterpieces, we must turn to a consideration of 
the method of teaching them. Common procedure re- 
quires three readings; first, for the story, second, for 
intensive study, and, third, for increased appreciation 
and unity of impression. The following discussion 
endeavors to indicate that the method of three stereo- 

169 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

typed readings must be modified in the interest of 
keener and more appreciative literary study. 



THE PREPARATION FOR THE STUDY OF THE 
MASTERPIECE 

The Intellectual Preparation. — i. The Fact Back- 
ground. — It is obvious that the children need a back- 
ground of facts of time, place, customs, and contem- 
porary life in order to understand the action of "Julius 
Caesar," of "Evangeline," or of the "Lady of the 
Lake." This background of fact must be given. But 
it is dangerous to seize upon this opportunity to cor- 
relate and give an extensive geography or history les- 
son. Detailed map work, research in history and the 
like are here out of place. Correlation aims to unify 
subjects in order to enrich a central idea. We are not 
engaged in enriching the child's knowledge of geo- 
graphy or history, but in developing appreciation. The 
facts of geography are intellectual. "The Lady of the 
Lake" is an embodiment of the sentiment of Scotch 
Highland life. The facts of history are social. 
"Evangeline" is an emotional presentation, not a his- 
toric exposition. It is always unwise to warn the 
child that the true facts of geography or history are 
distorted in the literary work that they study. Shake- 
speare portrays his Csesar; the teacher's object must be 
to lead the children to feel the reality of Shakespeare's 
characterization. Introduce the real Csesar and the 

170 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

picture falls at once. The teacher need not be con- 
cerned about the discrepancies between Longfellow's 
Acadia and the real Acadia. Longfellow refused to 
visit the place himself after he wrote his description. 
We must not destroy the picture that the poet cher- 
ished. In his "Evangeline" Longfellow did not write 
of the geography of Acadia, but rather of the "beauty 
and strength of woman's devotion." 

2. Author's Life. — A knowledge of the main cur- 
rents of the author's life is necessary for a thorough 
appreciation of the masterpiece, which is an expression 
of his power and personality. It is also useful infor- 
mation. The author should be more than a mere 
name. But when shall we study him ? Not before the 
first reading! The reasons are many. 

a. There is no motive in such a study. The child 
does not understand why, of all the books that he re- 
ceives at the beginning of a term, the author of one 
of these should be dignified more than the others. He 
does not study the life of the author of his book on 
grammar or arithmetic. Why single out Shakespeare 
or Longfellow? But if the teacher insists, the child 
will study the facts that are given him or those that he 
copies from the encyclopedia. But it is an arbitrary 
and dispirited task. Every biography studied must be 
a source of inspiration. If, however, we wait until 
the story is read and the children are thrilled by it, 
each pupil feels an urgency to know the writer more 
intimately. 

b. A writer's life is usually not an interesting one 

171 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

for the child because it is a life of appreciation, of 
artistic ideals and their expression. The child's hero 
is a man of action, whose achievements are fraught 
with adventure. In these biographical studies we must 
omit all details of genealogy, all analysis of style, and 
any discussion of the author's relation to his time. 
This information is without the pale of the child's in- 
terests and comprehension. Aside from the details of 
the author's life we must emphasize the essentials of 
character that are revealed in his masterpiece. Take 
up Longfellow's religious fervor, his love for the 
types of simple honest manhood and womanhood de- 
picted in "Evangeline." Every page reflects these. 
Bring out Whittier's love for the poor and the down- 
trodden. It is perhaps best to begin this study with 
the question, "What kind of man would write 'Evange- 
line ?' " Let the children suggest probable traits of 
character and personality and then verify these. The 
aim throughout should be to make the name of the 
author bring to mind a number of strong emotions, 
so that the child may carry away a definite, permanent 
and sympathetic impression. 

The Emotional Background: Why necessary f — The 
discussion thus far sought to emphasize that the ap- 
preciation of the masterpiece must be emotional, not 
intellectual. It is necessary, therefore, to make the 
children emotionally receptive for the author's appeal. 
Frequently the poet does this himself in his prelude. 
"This is the forest primeval, the murmuring pines and 
the hemlocks," strikes at once the minor strain of 

172 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

"Evangeline." In the overture the musician makes 
this same attempt to prepare his auditors emotionally. 
How can we make our children emotionally receptive 
for the message of the literary masterpiece? Two 
suggestions follow : 

1. Through pictures: Procure as many pictures as 
possible, whose themes are taken from the master- 
piece; pictures representing scenery, incident, charac- 
ters, etc. These are hung about the room, and nothing 
is said in explanation, until the intensive study brings 
the class to the incidents in the pictures. But in the 
meantime, the children are encouraged to look at these 
and get what they can out of them. Nothing very 
definite is gained, but they serve to arouse necessary 
sentiments and create a sympathetic atmosphere. 

2. Foreshadow the probabilities of the story: A 
second and more positive method of arousing the 
proper emotional background is to foreshadow the na- 
ture and the probable trend of the story which is to be 
studied. This can best be done by stimulating the 
child's imaginative powers in the desired direction, 
rather than by a direct statement. Thus, after the pre- 
liminary historical setting had been given for "Evan- 
geline," and the children had been told of the order to 
banish these simple souls from Acadia and scatter 
them over the continent, the teached asked, "What 
tragedies might occur in carrying out such an order?" 
Children in a seventh-year class suggested, "A hard- 
working farmer would lose all his possessions," an- 
other, "People would be homeless and penniless," an- 

173 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

other, "Families would be broken up," still another, 
"Father and mother, parents and children would be 
separated," etc. The teacher then announced, "Let us 
turn to the tragedy Longfellow pictures." The neces- 
sary sentiments of pity and sympathy were aroused; 
every child was emotionally conditioned for the story 
that the "murmuring pines" and the "disconsolate 
waves" had to tell. So, too, with Julius Caesar. The 
teacher told the facts of the democratic government 
in Rome, of Caesar's rapid rise, of Pompey's end, and 
then asked, "Why would a man in Caesar's position 
have enemies ?" The answers were many and varied. 
The teacher then continued, "What would you nat- 
urally expect these enemies to do?" The obvious an- 
swer, "Fall to plotting," was readily elicited. "Let us 
begin therefore the great plot against Caesar." With 
this initial preparation the children's minds were pre- 
pared to look behind motives, to watch for the tale 
which had been foreshadowed. 

THE FIRST READING 

How to Be Given. — ^The name, "The First Reading," 
is often construed literally by teachers and becomes a 
reading for the story only. It is not unusual to find 
teachers and children reading the masterpiece alter- 
nately, omitting all comments and centering interest 
exclusively on the narrative. This first reading does 
not achieve the desired results for many reasons. First, 
some parts are too difficult to convey any meaning to 

174 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

the children. Secondly, certain portions that are 
purely descriptive or that serve to give local color seem 
devoid of interest to the pupils. Thirdly, this long 
reading, unrelieved by comment, brings with it a life- 
lessness and a listlessness that produce a wrong atti- 
tude toward the masterpiece. 

The term "First Reading" must be construed lib- 
erally to mean, "Give the story in a most vivid and 
spirited manner for the purpose of arousing maximum 
enthusiasm in the term's work." The actual mode of 
conducting this "First Reading" varies therefore with 
each masterpiece. 

a. In the "Lady of the Lake" the average seventh- 
or eighth-year pupil finds the language difficult, the 
background altogether new, the style involved, and 
the action not at all times clear. It is evident that the 
children cannot get the story from a mere reading by 
the teacher. It is advisable, therefore, to tell the story 
in the most vivid and interesting manner without hav- 
ing recourse to the masterpiece itself. 

b. In "Julius Caesar" the conditions are different; 
the language is simpler, the story is full of action, and 
the dialogue makes for readier comprehension. The 
method of conducting the first reading in this case is 
the direct opposite to that in "The Lady of the Lake." 
After the teacher decides what scenes can readily be 
omitted as not being vital to the story she should read 
the rest of the play to the children. Since most chil- 
dren lack the fluency and the expressiveness necessary 
for proper oral rendition, the teacher must bear the 

175 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

full burden of this reading, realizing that effective 
work here develops in each child a proper attitude to- 
ward the study of the coming term. 

c. In "Evangeline" both sets of conditions prevail, 
viz., some parts are suited for oral reading as in 
"Julius Csesar," while others are too difficult or lack 
interest, as in "The Lady of the Lake." Both meth- 
ods of giving the story must therefore be used in 
"Evangeline," viz., alternate reading and telling. The 
simpler parts of this masterpiece are read, while the 
more difficult ones are summarized by the teacher ; the 
unity of the story is thus maintained. By a skillful 
blending of reading and narration the "first reading" 
is completed. An illustration will make this procedure 
clear to the teacher. 



Original Text: 



Teacher Reads: 



In the Acadian land, on the 

shores of the basin of 

Minas, 
Distant, secluded, still, the 

little village of Grand- 

Pre 
Lay in the fruitful valley. 

Vast meadows stretched 

to the eastward . 
Giving the village its name 

and pasture to flocks 

without number. 



In the Acadian land, on the 

shores of the basin of 

Minas, 
Distant, secluded, still, the 

little village of Grand- 

Pre 
Lay in the fruitful valley. 

Vast meadows stretched 

to the eastward 
Giving the village its name 

and pasture to flocks 

without number. 



176 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 



Dikes that the hands of the 
farmers had raised with 
labor incessant 

Shut out the turbulent 
tides; but at stated sea- 
sons the flood-gates 

Opened and welcomed the 
sea to wander o'er the 
meadows. 

West and south there were 
fields of flax, and or- 
chards and cornfields 



Dikes that the hands of the 
farmers had raised with 
labor incessant 

Shut out the turbulent 
tides; but at stated sea- 
sons the flood-gates 

Opened and welcomed the 
sea to wander o'er the 
meadows. 

West and south there were 
fields of flax, and or- 
chards and cornfields 



Spreading afar and un- 
fenced o'er the plain ; and 
away to the northward 

Blomidon rose, and the for- 
ests old, and aloft on the 
mountains 

Seafogs pitched their tents, 
and mists from the 
mighty Atlantic 

Looked on the happy val- 
ley, but ne'er from their 
station descended. 



[And to the north rose the 
mountains with their 
mist-covered peaks] 



There in the midst of its There in the midst of its 



farms, reposed the Aca- 
dian village. 
Strongly built were their 
houses, with frames of 
oak and of hemlock. 



farms, reposed the Aca- 
dian village. 
Strongly built were their 
houses, with frames of 
oak and of hemlock ; 



177 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 



Such as the peasants of 
Normandy built in the 
reign of the Henries. 

Thatched were their roofs, 
with dormer windows ; 
and gables projecting 

Over the casement below 
protected and shaded the 
doorway. 

etc. 



[Queer were their roofs, 
and queerer still their 
windows.] 



etc. 



The Stopping Places in the First Reading It is 

evident that the teacher cannot complete the first read- 
ing in a single period. The teacher who construes this 
first reading to mean, "Giving the story in a manner 
designed to arouse maximum enthusiasm," must care- 
fully plan the part of the masterpiece that is to be 
read at each period, for a wise selection of pauses con- 
tributes much to the interest in the story. Let us as- 
sume that on the first day when this oral reading is 
given the teacher by skillfully alternating reading and 
telling covers that part of the story which deals with 
the village of Acadia, its people and their life, the in- 
troduction of the main characters, the signing of the 
wedding contract between Evangeline and Gabriel, 
the rumors in the village when a warship appears in 
the harbor, the conjectures started by the proclamation 
that all male dwellers in Acadia assemble in the church, 
the gathering of the excited villagers in the house of 
worship, the clanging of the shutting gates, the pres- 
ence of armed guards and the reading of the royal 

178 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

proclamation, "Ye are banished." The teacher then 
reads or tells of the confusion which broke out in the 
church, and of Basil shouting his defiance, "Dowxi 
with the traitors, we never have sworn them alle- 
giance, . . . Fain he would have said more but 
the hand of a soldier smote him." The reading is 
continued, as the children sit in breathless expecta- 
tion : 

In the midst of this tumult of angry contention, 

Lo ! the door of the chancel opened, and Father Felician 

entered ; 
Raising his reverend hand, with a gesture he awed into 

silence 
All that clamorous throng. And thus he spake to his 

people ; 
Deep were his tones and solemn. In accents measured 

and mournful 

Spake he : 

What is this that ye do, my children? What madness 

has seized you? 
Forty years of my life have I labored among you, and 

taught you. 
Not in word alone, but in deed, to love one another ! 
. Is this the fruit of my toils, of my vigils and prayers and 

privations ? 
Have you so soon forgotten all lessons of love and for- 
giveness ? 
This is the house of the Prince of Peace, and would you 

profane it 
Thus with violent deeds and hearts overflowing with 

hatred ? 

179 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

Lo! where the crucified Christ from his cross is gazing 
upon you ! 

See! in those sorrowful eyes what meekness, and holy 
compassion ! 

Hark! how those lips still repeat the prayer, "O Father, 
forgive them!" 

Let us repeat that prayer in the hour when the wicked 
assail us. 

Let us repeat it now, and say, "O Father, forgive them !" 

Few were his words of rebuke, but deep in the hearts of 
his people 

Sank they, and sobs of contrition succeeded the passion- 
ate outbreak 

While they repeated his prayer, and said, "O Father, for- 
give them!" 

The teacher then concludes, "I wonder whether the 
hearts of these soldiers were touched ! Did they carry 
out the cruel order! We shall see to-morrow!" and 
the first day's reading is over. We must therefore 
stop at a dynamic pause which produces an effect simi- 
lar to the irritating "Continued in our Next!" 

Cautions in the First Reading A word of caution 

may be of service in helping to heighten the effect of 
this first reading. 

1. Be well prepared to make these shifts from 
reading to telling. There must be no hesitation, and 
no searching for simpler verbal equivalents. The book 
must be well marked so that the whole period moves 
along smoothly. 

2. Do not allow the children to follow in their 

1 80 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

books. It will confuse them as the teacher constantly 
modifies the text. Let them learn to listen intelligently 
and get the maximum pleasure out of the period. 

3. Do not allow the children to take their hooks 
home until the first reading is completed. The interest 
in the story which the teacher aroused makes them 
anxious to read ahead. But in their own reading they 
meet those difficulties which the teacher is removing 
temporarily, and they experience a sense of disappoint- 
ment. In the intensive study of the masterpiece they 
will be given plenty of opportunity to do their inde- 
pendent reading. 

"Why not merely tell the story?" the teacher may 
ask. The aim is, not only to give the outline of the 
story, but to give the atmosphere, the dominant senti- 
ment,, the music of the whole masterpiece. To merely 
tell the story gives a cold-blooded recital of a nar- 
rative. To give the story with the maximum original 
setting gives the spirit and the mood in which the mas- 
terpiece was conceived. 

THE SECOND READING: THE STUDY OF THE 
lilASTERFIECE 

Divide the Masterpiece into Intensive and Extensive 
Reading Selections. — It is evident that the entire mas- 
terpiece cannot be taken up for intensive study. The 
teacher must therefore divide the entire reading matter 
into selections to be used for extensive or for intensive 
reading. Such parts as are particularly well adapted 

181 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

for class study and well designed to develop literary 
appreciation must be treated intensively. But other 
parts that are either very simple or that lack in ability 
to maintain an intense interest in immature children 
must be read quickly and extensively merely to pre- 
serve the unity of the masterpiece and afford an oppor- 
tunity for practice in oral reading. Intensive reading 
means material "chewed and digested" ; extensive read- 
ing is only a process of "touch and go." Dividing the 
masterpiece into selections for intensive and extensive 
reading will give opportunities ( i ) for literary study, 
(2) for practice in reading, (3) for preserving the 
unity of the whole selection, and (4) for maintaining 
a uniform level of interest. 

Assign for Study Such Parts as Will Be Read Inten- 
sively — The selections that are to be used for intensive 
reading in the class should be assigned for indepen- 
dent study either at home or during school study 
periods. Children in the latter part of the school 
course must learn to use their dictionaries, and to learn 
the meaning of such expressions and allusions as are 
given in the footnotes or glossaries. Time and effort 
are thus saved and the teacher can emphasize the lit- 
erary rather than the formal aspect of the text. Since 
the ideal in all teaching is to make the child indepen- 
dent of the teacher, this book work by the child is 
highly justifiable. 

Will the Home Reading Kill Interest in Class Read- 
ing? — Many teachers fail to assign home reading be- 
cause they fear that they may jeopardize the interest 

182 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

in class work. But if the teacher in this second read- 
ing is ready to open to the child the fund of sugges- 
tion, of thought, of beauty, of character study hidden 
in each page, the latter will enjoy an ever-changing 
panorama which he did not see in his home reading. It 
must also be remembered that children, like adults, de- 
light in the repetition of a pleasant thought. How 
often children ask us to tell them some one of the 
many stories they know! They are familiar with ^11 
the details and are ever ready to correct us when we 
vary the story from the form that they learned. If 
the class readings have teaching merit, flagging inter- 
est, due to home reading, need cause the teacher no 
concern. 

What Shall We Select for Intensive Reading? — The 
spirit of the literary period will be determined by the 
nature of the selections used for intensive study. With 
this end in view, the following standards are offered 
to guide in the selection of a text for intensive reading: 

1. Is it Vital to the Masterpiece f — What is of 
minor importance should be omitted in intensive work. 

2. Is it Complete in Itself f — It must be an inci- 
dent, a description, an exposition, a scene, i. e., a lit- 
erary or comDosition unit. Thus, in "Evangeline" the 
church scene, or the description of the village, or the 
marriage contract would constitute such a unit for in- 
tensive reading. The assignment by pages or lines 
as is customary in Latin recitations must not be dupli- 
cated in the teaching of English. 

3. Does It Need Elaboration f — There is a danger 

183 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

in elaborating and expanding the obvious, in stating in 
cold explanation what the child not only understands 
but feels as a result of the author's appeal. How flat 
does the teacher's statement, "Brutus is unselfish," 
sound after Brutus's soliloquy in his garden, in which 
every word breathes unselfish devotion to the common 
welfare. To explain a sentiment that the child feels 
is to bring the sublime to the low level of the common- 
place. 

4. Has It a Central Thought f — Each part that is 
selected for intensive study should, as far as possible, 
try to bring out one central theme or principle in lit- 
erary study. For example, the aim of one selection 
may be to teach character interpretation. Through- 
out the lesson the art of character portrayal is made 
focal. The child is shown that he can analyze the 
character of any person in the story by his actions, by 
his statements and by what others say of him. Thus 
in the tent scene and in the quarrel scene in "Julius 
Caesar" the child is led to study Brutus's character 
through his acts of consideration manifested toward 
Lucius and through his protests against the dubious 
methods of Cassius. Each act and each statement of 
Brutus is made to cast some light on his personality. 
Th"e scene which portrays the Acadians huddled in 
miserable groups on the shore, on the eve of their ban- 
ishment, ofifers rich material for a character study of 
Evangeline. The child notes Evangeline's every ac- 
tion, hears her words of cheer and comfort to others 
in the face of her own impending tragedy, and listens 

184 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

to what the grief -stricken say about her. At the end 
of the study of this scene Evangeline looms up a liv- 
ing incarnation of Christian forbearance and unselfish 
devotion to others. Concentrating on one point, viz., 
"means of interpreting character," gives the children 
a method which they can apply in their own read- 
ing; it opens their eyes and enables them to "see 
character" as in incidents that they would otherwise 
overlook. 

In the same way a selection may be used, because it 
is an excellent model of description. Throughout the 
intensive reading all attention is focussed on how the 
picture is developed, and how the author uses color 
words and characteristic details to convey a vivid im- 
pression of the scene he sees in his mind's eye. Here 
the child carries away a standard which enables him 
to appreciate a description in his own later reading. 
For the same reason, a part of the masterpiece may 
be selected, because it teaches the structure of skillful 
narration or because it is rich in diction. In the latter 
case, the governing aim is to impress upon the pupil's 
minds the charm of a happy choice of words. By 
way of illustration may be offered the scene in which 
the conspirators are planning to murder Ccesar, and 
Brutus pleads : 

"Let us be sacrificers but not butchers — 
Let us kill him boldly but not wrathfully. 
Let us carve him as a dish fit for the gods. 
Not hew him as a carcass fit for hounds " 

185 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

Or when Evangeline decides to give up her will-o'- 
the-wisp search, and lead a useful life as a nun, help- 
ing the distressed and the sick, Longfellow paints 
beautifully the scene which begins, "As when the mist 
from the mountain tops, ..." When such selections 
are chosen for intensive reading, the beauty, the force, 
the elegance, the richness and suggestiveness of dic- 
tion are made central to the exclusion of everything 
else. 

There are excellent advantages in organizing inten- 
sive readings around one principle of literary appre- 
ciation: (i) The child is given a means of judging 
such elements when they recur in later readings. (2) 
A deeper and more lasting impression is almost in- 
evitable. (3) It enables the teacher to assign home 
work around a specific problem. Thus the teacher as- 
signs : "Read Scene I of Act I and see if you can tell 
why it is necessary to the story," or "Read Scene II of 
Act I and see if you can find a suggestion as to the 
ending of the story," or "See if you can describe chai- 
acter A." Such an assignment encourages concentra- 
tion, and indicates to the child along what lines to 
think in order to reach the heart of the problem. 

Aims in Intensive Reading. — During the course of 
the oral reading teachers must seek to subordinate 
minor aims to higher literary values. Hence, as chil- 
dren are called upon successively to read the text, we 
must strive to attain a threefold aim : ( i ) Thought. 
— Throughout the lesson every question and every 
suggestion must be such as to demand maximum 

186 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

thought and keen discrimination on the part of the pu- 
pils. (2) Expression. — The oral rendition must give 
evidence that the children have grasped the thought 
and respond to the dominant emotional appeal. (3) 
Appreciation. — Not only must the child understand 
the thought and feel the situation, but there must re- 
sult a dynamic interest in what is read so that the text 
becomes a source of keen pleasure to which he looks 
forward with anxious anticipation. 

How to Attain Thought, Expression and Appreciation in 
Reading. — An illustration may serve to make clear the 
meaning of these three aims in reading and to indi- 
cate the modes of attaining them. The selection read 
by an eighth-year pupil was the opening of Act II, 
Scene I, of "Julius Caesar." 

Rome: Brutus's Orchard. 

{Enter Brutus.] 

Brutus. 
What, Lucius! ho! — 
I cannot, by the progress of the stars, 
Give guess how near to day. — Lucius, I say! — 
I would it were my fault to sleep so soundly. — 
When, Lucius, when ! Awake, I say ! What, Lucius ! 

If the reader will render these five lines in a uni- 
form loud and commanding voice he will have a fair 
reproduction of the child's reading, which was ac- 
cepted by the teacher. Had the lesson developed along 

187 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

the following lines, the three dominant aims would 
have been attained : 

Teacher : Does Brutus think that Lucius is 
asleep ? 

Pupil: Yes. 

Teacher : Would Brutus ask a sleeping person for 
the time? 

Pupil: No! Brutus must have thought that Lu- 
cius was awake. 

Teacher : You read the first sentence in a tone 
loud enough to wake Lucius. How do you think 
Brutus would have spoken it ? 

Pupil: In an ordinary inquiring tone. (Pupil 
now re-reads these lines.) 

Teacher: What answer did Lucius give? 

Pupil : None. 

Teacher : How can you tell ? 

Pupil: Brutus repeats "Lucius, I say!" 

Teacher : How would you read these three 
words ? 

Pupil: With a little impatience. (Pupil reads 
them thus.) 

Teacher: What does Brutus evidently now dis- 
cover ? 

Pupil : That Lucius is asleep. 

Teacher : How can you tell ? 

Pupil: Brutus says, "I would it were my fault to 
sleep so soundly." 

Teacher : To whom does he say this ? 

Pupil: To himself. 

1 88 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

Teacher : What error did you make in reading 
this Hne? 

Pupil : I read it in a loud tone as if it were meant 
for Lucius. (Pupil re-reads this line in the tones of a 
soliloquy.) 

Teacher : But Brutus must know the time. What 
will he do? 

Pupil : He will wake Lucius. 

Teacher : Read the last line so that you will surely 
wake Lucius! 

The pupil should next be asked to re-read the entire 
passage and give evidence through changing expres- 
sion that the changing thought, hidden before, is now 
clear, and that there is an appreciation of text that 
seemed flat and insipid. 

Aids and Suggestions for Specific Difiiculties. — i. The 
Nature of the Predominating Questions. — The method 
throughout must be one of development, free from 
long, didactic explanations. The predominating ques- 
tions must be such as will elicit thought, appreciation, 
and expression. A lesson in which all the questions 
ask for meaning of words, identification of names, and 
for facts in footnotes is unpardonable. Why should 
a child know all the words and all the references to 
local heroes and saints in the "Lady of the Lake"? 
Through arduous drill, these facts can be mastered, 
but they rob the masterpiece of its spirit and leave a 
mass of uninspiring verbiage. Questions which stir 
thought, arouse appreciation, and prompt expression 
give the child a permanent trinity of literary values. 

189 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

Questions should be retrospective as well as prospec- 
tive. In Act II, Ccssar boasts, "The Ides of March 
have come." Where was this first warning given? 
Let the children look back and find it in the first act. 
In Act I, Scene II, the conversation of Brutus and 
Cassius is interrupted by shouts. "What is the cause 
for the shouting?" Let the children turn a few pages 
and infer the reason for the shouting. Act II, Scene 
I, shows Brutus reading letters of appeal and protest 
from the populace of Rome. "Where are we pre- 
pared for these letters?" Let the children look back 
and find out. Such questions afford an opportunity 
for many incidental reviews and serve to unify the en- 
tire masterpiece. 

2. Motorize and Dramatise in Oral Reading. — 
Psychology teaches that every emotion is accompanied 
by some physical expression, and that if we assume 
the physical characteristics of an emotion we soon ex- 
perience the emotion itself. "If you are sad and de- 
jected," says James, "smooth the brow, brighten the 
eye . . . speak in a major key, pass the genial com- 
pliment and your heart must be frigid indeed if it does 
not gradually thaw." The readiest means at our com- 
mand for enabling the child to enter into an emotional 
situation is through dramatization. 

In reading Father Felician's speech to his frantic 
flock, the child must assume a stooping posture and 
speak in "accents mournful." How can he feel the 
thrill of his plea if he reads it in loud tones. In read- 
ing the quarrel scene in "Julius Caesar," the children 

190 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

must show their anger through loud and hostile tones. 
How can they experience Brutus' s indignation if they 
read it in calm, dispassionate tones? In reading the 
opening scene of "Junius Caesar" the children should 
imitate the painful stoop of an old cobbler or the re- 
spectful tones of the old shoemaker as he answers the 
officer, Flavius. If the pupil who reads Flavius's com- 
mands will assume a military posture, his voice will 
automatically take on a domineering tone. Unless the 
children enter into the physical being of the character 
they interpret, they cannot respond to the emotional 
appeal of any dramatic situation. 

3. In Difficult Passages the Teacher Must Offer the 
Model of Oral Expression. — When there is doubt of 
the pupils' ability to read a given selection with proper 
expression, the teacher should read it to the class be- 
fore subjecting it to inevitable mutilations by the 
children. In all difficult oral reading the pupils should 
imitate the correct rendition by the teacher. The 
model in oral reading must be used as frequently and 
as liberally as in written composition. 

4. Use and Misuse of the Dictionary. — Practice in 
the use of the dictionary should be reserved exclusively 
for home work and seat work; it should never be 
given during an oral recitation. It is a common prac- 
tice for teachers to stop a reading lesson while a word 
is being looked up in the dictionary by a member of 
the class. The nervousness which results from a con- 
sciousness that the class is watching makes the child 
who is thus victimized take much longer than usual 

191 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

and in his excitement he reads off the wrong definition. 
The spirit and the forward movement of the whole 
lesson are killed for the petty interest in a word. 
Despite the pedagogical dictum, "Never tell what the 
child can find out for itself," the teacher should give 
the meaning of the word and make no more ado. 

This use of the dictionary in oral reading not only 
sacrifices the spirit of the lesson, but it (i) discour- 
ages and weakens the child's power to get the mean- 
ing of words from the context. Thus the child reads, 
"My midnight orisons said o'er, a prayer with every 
bead of gold, I'll turn to rest and dream no more." 
"Orisons" can mean only one thing, "prayers" ; so why 
go to the dictionary? Few words have fixed values; 
they derive their meaning from the company they keep. 
(2) A dictionary definition may often be useless. 
Thus Ccesar complains about flatterers, who with "low 
crook'd court'sies and base spaniel fawning." 
The context and not the dictionary will give Ccusar's 
meaning. The method of deriving meaning through 
the context has been called "the insidious practice of 
guessing at words," but it has a place in class work 
coordinate with the dictionary method. 

5. Treatment of Allusions. — When an allusion oc- 
curs it is unwise to call up a number of children and 
ask, "What is meant by 'murmuring pines,' 'Druids of 
Eld,' 'The fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves' ?" 
Such a procedure merely discourages children, wastes 
time and retards the movement of the lesson. It is 
always best to begin with a series of questions de- 

192 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

signed to make clear the meaning of the allusion. If 
the problem in question is "Murmuring pines," the 
teacher asks, "How does a person feel who murmurs? 
Does he feel that way when he whispers? What kind 
of story do these trees have to tell? Why do these 
trees murmur? What is the value of the word mur- 
mur as here used?" Or he may ask, "How did 
the old soothsayer prophesy? What is meant by a 
'person's star' in this sense? Hence what is the 
meaning of 'The fault lies not in our stars but in our- 
selves' ?" 

It is obvious that too intensive a study of these allu- 
sions undermines interest in any lesson. The teacher 
must therefore be discriminative and take up only such 
allusions as (i) recur frequently, or (2) determine the 
meaning of an important incident, or (3) refer to 
things already learned. Examples of these are : "Ides 
of March," "To move Olympus," "Druids of Eld." 
But we should dismiss from consideration such allu- 
sions as are introduced for local color and occur there- 
fore only in this one connection. "The Feast of Luper- 
cal" can be passed over without any more explanation 
than the word "Feast" suggests. To dilate on the 
meaning of such allusions is to sacrifice interest in 
literature for useless information. 

6. Illustrative Material. — While the child's imagina- 
tion may be relied upon to image people, incidents and 
actions which reflect in part the day's life, it is impos- 
sible for it to construct situations that are altogether 
new. When the background is entirely foreign to the 

193 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

child, illustrative aids are absolutely essential. How 
can city children image the beauties of the lakes, the 
rolling hills, the towering mountain peaks that Scott 
describes unless we bring to them a wide and varied 
collection of pictures? Teachers must watch for pub- 
lic recitals of these masterpieces given with the aid of 
stereopticon views. In addition to their illustrative 
value, these recitals give the children new interpreta- 
tions and good models of oral reading. 

Devices for Emphasizing the Meaning of the Master- 
piece as a Whole.- — While individual parts and selec- 
tions need explanation and elaboration, attention must 
be given to the meaning and spirit of the masterpiece 
as a whole or to its larger subdivisions. What shall 
we do to emphasize these? 

I. Study of Plot Structure. — The study of plot 
structure is exceedingly valuable because it gives the 
children a comprehensive view of the skeleton of the 
story and shows them the dramatic value and the rela- 
tive position of each incident and each character. The 
elements in the study of plot structure include the fol- 
lowing : 

1. The main story. 

2. The subsidiary stories. The street scene which 
opens the first act of "Julius Caesar" or the scene im- 
mediately preceding the assassination of Ccesar are 
illustrations of subsidiary stories. The children are 
led to a consideration of the number of these stories, 
whether each is germane to the main narrative, and the 
dramatic value of each. 

194 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

3. Where is the dimax? 

4. Who is the central figure around whom the story 
is woven? 

5. Who are the characters that are necessary to 
the story? Why are the others brought in? 

6. Classify the story. Is it a tragedy, comedy, epic? 
etc. 

7. Why is prose or poetry used in the telling of the 
story ? 

2. Grasping and Recognising Fundamental Themes. 
— A second means of emphasizing the meaning of the 
entire masterpiece is by constantly seeking to recog- 
nize the fundamental themes as they recur. Early in 
the intensive study teacher and children should decide 
upon the central thought in the whole story. In 
"Evangeline," "The beauty and strength of woman's 
devotion"; in the "Lady of the Lake," "The free, 
rugged, honest life of the Scotch Highlanders," may 
be mentioned as examples. The same thought can be 
applied in character study, for the children may be led 
to recognize the dominant note in each personality. 
Thus Brutus becomes synonymous with altruism and 
high-mindedness, while Cassius is made the embodi- 
ment of cunning and craftiness. When any incident 
that reveals the main theme of the masterpiece or a 
dominant trait of character is portrayed, it should be 
interpreted and its symbolism noted by all the children. 
This constant recognition of fundamental themes 
brings with it an element of pleasure. Just as the 
dominant motif is struck in music again and again, so, 

195 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

too, in literature, a motif of sentiment is introduced 
and then played upon in various keys and different 
strains. Encouraging children to recognize these fun- 
damental themes as they recur gives them, again, a 
lasting impression, affords opportunities for natural 
and incidental reviews, and serves to unify the whole 
masterpiece. 

3. Versification. — A final means of bringing out the 
spirit of the entire selection is through a study of 
versification. To introduce the children to the techni- 
calities of poetic structure is most unwise. This is 
the mechanics of poetry which, for children, deadens 
its spirit and robs it of its very life. The versification 
that is taken up in the elementary school should be 
studied solely "in the interest of sympathetic and ex- 
pressive oral reading." Scansion must not be a 
scheme of notation, but a study of emphasis, rhythm 
and tempo. Children should be led to see that there 
is a relation between versification and music; that the 
line of music is divided into measures, while the line 
of poetry is divided into feet; that each measure in 
music has its accented note or notes and each foot has 
its accented syllables; that music conveys emotions 
just as versification intensifies the thought. Let the 
child realize that even though he knew no English he 
would nevertheless feel the minor strain of the trag- 
edy of "Evangeline" by listening to 

This is the | forest pri | meval. The | murmuring | pines and 
tint I hemlocks, 

while the lines, 

196 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

With hark | and whoop^| and wild ! halloo 
I^ rest I Behvoir | lich's ech | o'e's kriew, 

suggest at once the excitement and the speed of the 
chase of the "Lady of the Lake." Elementary school 
children must not be burdened with complex termi- 
nology like dactylic hexameter or iambic tetrameter. 
For them, the sole function of versification is to give 
an intenser appreciation of the meaning and the mes- 
sage of the masterpiece. 



THE APPLICATION OF THE IIASTERPIECE 

Shall There Be a Third Reading? — Many courses of 
study prescribe a third reading, which is to follow the 
intensive study of the masterpiece. The arguments ad- 
vanced for this procedure assert ( i ) that children ex- 
perience a sense of joy when they realize their in- 
creased power of literary appreciation and interpre- 
tation; (2) that a pleasant, lasting impression is thus 
given; (3) that the masterpiece is unified in the minds 
of the pupils by this re-reading. In the method that 
was suggested for short literary selections this final 
reading was urged because it gives these advantages. 
But when this third reading is applied to a long mas- 
terpiece, the results are not satisfactory for many 
reasons : 

I. The third reading takes long and causes inter- 
est to wane. Experience shows that the children ex- 
hibit an attitude of decided indifference to this read- 
ing. 

197 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

2. Since this reading is not fraught with the keen 
delight that characterizes the first reading, the final 
effect upon the pupils is bad. 

3. There is no need of reading the masterpiece a 
third time for the sake of unity. The method of al- 
ternating between intensive and extensive reading 
throughout the entire masterpiece serves to give the 
child a consistent and complete view of the entire 
story. The third reading usually becomes a lifeless 
and useless repetition which destroys what has been 
built up so laboriously. The teacher will find that 
there are other and more profitable ways of reviewing 
the masterpiece and having the children express its 
message than by an actual re-reading. We will con- 
sider some of the procedures which give better results. 

Substitutes for the Third Reading — i. Through Sim- 
ple Dramatisation of the Masterpiece. — An effective 
dramatization does not require an elaborate display 
of costumes, scenic setting, or auxiliaries of any kind. 
In an eighth-year class a simple but pleasing and 
suggestive recital of the "Lady of the Lake" was 
given in the following way : One of the children, 
who was master of ceremonies, stepped forward 
and explained that this was a story dealing with 
Scotch highland life, and outlined in a very few words 
the causes which led to the action in the story. He 
told of the chase in which the hunter pursued the 
stag until his steed sank exhausted. He continued, 
"The hunter grieved at this misfortune to his faithful 
horse, then addressed it as follows." At this point 

198 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

one of the boys of the class who was responsible for 
this selection stepped forward and recited the hunter's 
appreciation of his steed. The first boy then resumed 
his story, telling a brief part in his own words, until 
he came to the next vital part, which was recited by 
another pupil to whom it had been assigned. In this 
way the entire masterpiece was completed. The whole 
story was rehearsed, but the newness of the procedure 
sustained the interest throughout. All of the children 
took part and much of the masterpiece was committed 
to memory. 

2. Through Elaborate Dramatisations. — The sec- 
ond means of reviewing the masterpiece is through the 
elaborate dramatization of the significant parts. While 
this work of preparing costumes and training in care- 
ful dramatic rendition is commendable, it is a question 
worth- much consideration whether the time and effort 
of both teacher and pupils a,re commensurate with the 
benefits and delights which the children derive from 
this work. Then, too, we must notice that in most of 
these dramatizations only a few of the children take 
part and thus receive the benefits which participation 
in such work would naturally give. In addition, it 
must be observed that only those children who speak 
well and are unabashed in the face of an audience are 
usually selected for this exhibition. These elaborate 
dramatizations are "star performances" and hardly 
merit a place as class work. 

3. Through Memorisation and Recitation. — 'A 
good means of reviewing and applying the master- 

199 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

piece is to require the children to memorize vital and 
striking parts. The teacher knows that memorizing 
literary selections has its educational results : ( i ) It 
enriches the vocabulary; (2) it develops a storehouse 
of beautiful expressions; (3) it gives the child a num- 
ber of lofty sentiments artistically expressed; (4) 
it leaves the child a permanent store of literary gems 
which grow in beauty and richness as the mind gains 
in insight and appreciation. But these reasons form 
motive for the teacher and not for the child. Pupils 
memorize what is assigned from a sense of fear be- 
cause of the authority which is vested in the teacher. 

All memorization by the pupils should be prompted 
by an urgent motive. Let the children decide what 
parts of the masterpiece they want to memorize. The 
choice usually falls upon those selections which were 
studied intensively and appreciatively. The pupils must 
then be led to feel that effective dramatization of their 
favorite selections is impossible unless they memorize 
them. Call up two children and ask them to go 
through the scene between Brutus and Lucius. Chil- 
dren delight in these dramatizations but they soon real- 
ize that their dramatic presentation lacks force and 
conviction, because they must rely on the printed page 
for every word and every cue. Now there is a motive 
for memorizing this selection and the children set to 
work with a rational impulse. 

4. Through Oral Compositions.-^Another means 
of applying the subject-matter studied in the master- 
piece is through frequent oral composition. The story 

200 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

should be seized upon as a good means for giving the 
children practice for talking convincingly and consecu- 
tively on a topic that they know. The story now 
means much to the child and he enjoys telling it. 
Topics like the following can be assigned for these oral 
discussions : 

Brutus and the conspirators are in debate ; the latter 
favor the death of Antony, but the former is opposed 
to unnecessary murder. Argue the wisdom of each 
side. 

What traits in the characters of Antony and of 
Brutus can be inferred from their respective speeches 
to the Roman populace? 

What titles, other than "Julius Caesar" would you 
suggest for this play? Defend your suggestion! 

Children should be trained to reflect a moment on 
the given topic and then make their statements, giving 
support for their contentions by citing specific evidence 
from the masterpiece. Progress will be slow; with 
many children the work will be discouraging at the be- 
ginning, but the advantages of such work, begun in the 
middle of the school course and continued persistently 
through the elementary course are far-reaching. 

5. Through Ethical Lessons. — In an earlier discus- 
sion a detailed analysis of the ethical value of the mas- 
terpiece was made. Mere mention of the topic must, 
therefore, suffice at this point. 

6. Through Examinations. — Regular written ex- 
aminations are excellent means of having children re- 
view and apply the content of their literary studies, but 

201 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

careful attention must be given to their organization. 
These examinations should be made up of two distinct 
parts : 

Part I. — To test the knowledge the child has gained 
of the masterpiece: Questions in this part of the test 
should be designed to test the child's knowledge of the 
work that was covered in class. As types of such 
questions we may submit : ( i ) What is the meaning of 
"orisons," "low crook'd court'sies"? (2) What figure 
of speech in the following? (3) Who said "Friends, 
Romans, countrymen, . . ."? (4) What is the 
value of Scene I in Act I? 

Part II. — The test for increased power of interpre- 
tation and appreciation: The second part of the test 
is of a nature altogether different. As a result of re- 
peated intensive studies it is hoped that the child will 
gain more than the definite specific information; that 
the child will grow in the power of independent inter- 
pretation and develop a standard of literary criticism. 
The answers to the questions in this part of the test 
must call for judgment, for keen analysis, and for ap- 
preciation. Allow the children to have their books 
open as they answer the question. Let us assume that 
the children have read silently the scene in which An- 
tony asks for permission to bury Ccusar and then 
speak after Brutus; with the aid of their books, dic- 
tionaries, etc., the pupils are required to answer the 
following: Point out three traits of Antony's char- 
acter and three oi Brutus' s that are revealed in this 
scene. Give evidence for the traits you select. 

202 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

F'urther questions suitable for this part of the test 
are: 

Name some practical errors that Brutus made. 
What light do they throw on his character? 

CcFsar is killed so early in the play. Would you 
have called the play "Julius Caesar"? Justify your 
answer or your choice of a title. 

The ghost of CcEsar appears to the gentle Brutus. 
Had you written the play would you have made it so 
appear or would you have caused the ghost to appear 
to the crafty Cassiusf 

Evangeline finds Gabriel as he is dying. Would you 
have changed the ending in any way? Justify your 
answer. 

But, for some inexplicable reason, this type of ex- 
amination is not usual. Year in and year out the 
same stupid, insignificant questions are asked — ques- 
tions which test the memory of petty facts or the mean- 
ing of unusual words. If the objects of intensive read- 
ing are (i) thought, (2) expression, (3) appreciation, 
then the examination questions must test for these 
ends. On examining recent test papers given by prin- 
cipals, superintendents, or teachers' journals one is 
confronted by the following: 

1. Where was the great battle between the Trium- 
virs and the Conspirators fought ? Locate the place. 

2. What is meant by the "Feast of Lupercal"? 

3. From what source did Shakespeare obtain his 
version of "Julius Caesar"? 

4. Name the author of "Miles Standish." What 

203 



TEACHING CHILDREN TO READ 

is his nationality? Name another work. About what 
colony is it? When do the events take place? 

5. What sort of poem is "Evangeline"? What is 
its meter? What sections of the United States and 
Canada are mentioned? In what city does the last 
scene take place? What bay is near the village? 
What promontory? 

6. Who is the author of the "Lady of the Lake"? 
Where born? What two important events took place 
in America at the time of his birth ? 

What Shall Literature Give the Elementary School 
Graduate? — Those principals and supervisors who for- 
mulated these questions failed because they neglected 
to take cognizance of the vital aims that should govern 
the teaching of literature. They failed to realize that 
the study of these masterpieces must give children an 
acquaintanceship with the best literary forms, must 
develop a standard by means of which they can judge 
literary merit, must inculcate a love for the spirit and 
the message of true literature, and must develop ability 
for independent literary interpretation. Good teaching 
of literature, therefore, gives the child a permanent 
treasure of delightful memories and ushers him into a 
new world where stirring scenes and sweet voices lead 
him to a realization that he is living a fuller and richer 
life. 

SUGGESTED READING 

Carpenter, Baker and Scott. The Teaching of Eng- 
lish, 155-187. Longmans, Green & Co. 
204 



THE TEACHING OF A MASTERPIECE 

Corson, Hiram, Aims of Literary Studies. Macmillan 
Co. 

GoLDWASSER, I. E. Method and Methods in the Teach- 
ing of EngHsh, chaps. VII, VIII, IX. 

Hosic, James F. The Elementary School Course in 
EngHsh, 42-53. 

McMuRRY, Charles A. Special Method in English 
Classics. Macmillan Co. 



INDEX 



Adolescents and literary Basedow, 39 



study, 167 
Aims, of reading, i 

of intensive reading, 186 
of intermediary reading, 

126 
Aldine Method, 66 
Allusions in literary study, 

192 
Alphabetic Method, 37 
Animal stories, 84 
Apperception in reading, 129, 

174 
See also Preparation of 
class 
Arnold, Sarah L., 6 
Articulation, 145 
Association in reading, 46, 

53 
Atonies, 104 
Author's life in literary 

study, 171 

Balliet, Thomas M,, 26 

Basal stories, 

in Aldine Method, 66 
in Culture Primers, 76 
in McCloskey Method, 51 
in Progressive Road, 76 



Bell, Alexander Graham, 123 
Blackboard reading, 49 
Books, hygienic require- 
ments for, 13 
proper paper in, 15 
proper size of, 15 
standardization of, 16 
Bryant, Sarah Cone, 100 
Buno, 39 

Carpenter, Baker and Scott, 
6, 35» 57. 100, 205 

Character interpretation, 184 

Character value of master- 
pieces, 167 

Chubb, Percival, 35, 100, 158 

Clark, S. H., 158 

Class libraries, 156 

Clearness in reading, 145 

Coe and Christie, 81, 123 

Cohen, H., 16 

Colby, J. R., 6 

Comenius, 49 

Comparisons in reading, 152 

Consonants, 104 

Content, in phonic work, 114 
of primers, 83 

Content aim in reading, 32 



207 



INDEX 



Correction of reading, 149 

Corson, Hiram, 205 

Criticism of class reading, 
r49 

Culture epoch and post- 
ponement of reading, 

29 

Culture Primers, 76 

Cumulative tales, 85 
See also McCloskey Meth- 
od; Progressive Road 
Method 

Davis and Julien, 70 
Dearborn, W. F., 26 
Dewey, John, 27, 35 
Diacritical marks, 108 
Dictionary, 192 
Dramatization, 147, 189, 198, 

199 
See also Primary methods 

of reading 
Dresslar, T. B., 16, 123 

Elaboration in reading, 150 

Eliot, Charles W., 3 

Emotional preparation, in 
masterpiece, 172 
in reading lesson, 132 

Enunciation, 145 

Ethical value of master- 
piece, 167 

Eye fatigue, 11 

Eye movement in reading, 7 

Eye sweeps in reading, 7 



Examination for power, 201, 

202 
Expression, 146 
Extensive reading, 154 

Fables, 84 
Fairy tales, 84 
Farnham, 48 
Farnham Method, 48 
Finger-play method, 70 
First reading in masterpiece, 

174 
Formal aim in reading, 32 

Generalization in reading, 

152 
Goldwasser, I. E., 6, 57, 100, 

124, 158, 205 
Gordon, Emma K., Method, 

39, 60 
Group teaching, in phonics, 

115 
in reading, 156 

Haliburton and Smith, 158 
Hall, G. Stanley, 4, 57, 138 
Hervey and Hix, y2> 124 
Horace Mann system, 73 
Hosic, James F., 35, 100, 

205 
Huey, Ed. B., 6, 16, 26, 35, 
57, 81, 100 
on oral reading, 139 
on rate in reading, 19 
on reading method, 50 



208 



INDEX 



Huey, Ed. B., on when to 
begin to read, 27 

Hughes, James L., 81, 139 

Hygienic reasoning for post- 
poning reading, 27 

Hygienic requirements for 
books, 13 

Ickelsamer and phonic drill, 

39 

Illustrations in readers, 86 

Illustrative material in liter- 
ary study, 193 

Imagination, education of, 
166 

Imitation, 120 

Inner speech in reading, 17 

Intellectual value of master- 
piece, 165 

Intensive reading lessons, 
procedure in, 136 

Intensive study of master- 
piece, 181 
aims of, 186 

division of masterpiece 

into selections for, 181 

study of selection for, 

182 
what to choose in, 183 

Jacotot, 49 
Jansenites, 39 
Jones, Dora D., 124 



Kenyon-Warner, Ellen, 76 



Laing, Mary E., 6, 26, 35, 
57, 81, 100, 158 
on oral reading, 139 
on silent reading, 138 
on when to begin, 27 

Language lessons in reading, 

54, 77 

Levine, Michael, 124 

Light, 13 

Lines, length of, 15 

Lip reading, 17 

Literature, place of, in ele- 
mentary school, 3, 159 

McClintock, P. L., 6 
McCloskey Method, 51 
McManus and Haaren, 81 
McMurry, Charles A., 57, 81, 
158, 205 
on reading method, 50 
on when to begin reading, 

Masterpiece, place of, in 

school, 161 
Masterpiece values, 164 

See also Intensive study of 
Mechanical aids in speech 

correction, 121 
Memorization and recitation, 

199 
Messmer, on inner speech, 17 
Mispronunciations, habitual 

causes of, 117 
remedial measures for, 

119 



209 



INDEX 



Models of oral expression, 

150, 191 
Moralization in story-telling, 

99 

Moses, Montrose J., 100 
Motivation in phonics, 113, 

120 
Mount, Christiana, 62, 81 

Natural Method, y6 

Natural Method Readers, 
81 

Nature stories, 84 

New Education Method, 62 

New England Primer, 82 

New words in reading les- 
sons, 130 

Nursery rhymes, 83 

Optic fatigue, 11 
Organs of speech, descrip- 
tion of, 103 
undue emphasis on, in 
phonic work, 115 
Oral composition, in litera- 
ture, 200 
in reading lesson, 151 
Oral reading, clearness in, 

145 

in intermediary grades, 

139 
overemphasis of, 23 
place of, in school courses, 

2 
processes in, 7 



Oral reading, standard of 

judging, 142 
O'Shea, M. V., 20, 26 

Paper, proper kind of, for 
books, 15 

Partridge, E. N. and G. E., 
100 

Pedagogical consideration 
for postponing read- 
ing, 30 

Pestalozzi, 39 

Phonic Method, 38, 41 

Phonics, in Aldine Method, 

69 
definitions of, 103 
in Finger-play Method, 

in Gordon Method, 61 

in Horace Mann Method, 

75 
in McCloskey Method, 54 
in New Education Method, 

62 
objects of, 102 
in Pollard Method, 62 
in preparation for reading 

lesson, 129 
in Progressive Road Meth- 
od, 77 
in Summers Method, 65 
in Ward Method, 45 
Phonograms, analysis of 
modes of, 11 1 
blends in, 112, 113 



210 



INDEX 



Phonograms, gradation of, 
109 
teaching of, no 
Phrasing, 147 
See also Dramatization ; 
Primary methods of 
reading 
Plot structure in master- 
piece, 194 
Pollard Synthetic Method, 

61 
Preparation, of class for 
reading, 129 
for reading lesson, 128 
by teachers for phonic les- 
son, no 
Primary reading, A 1 d i n e 
Method in, 66 
Alphabetic Method in, 

Z7 
essentials of a modern 

method in, 43 
Farnham Method in, 48 
Finger-play Method in, 

70 
Gordon Method in, 60 
Horace Mann Method in, 

72> 
how to judge a method of, 

78-80 
McCloskey Method in, 

51 

Natural Method in, 81 
New Education Method 
in, 62 



Primary reading. Phonetic 
Method in, 41 
Phonic Method in, 38 
Pollard Method in, 61 
Progressive Road Method 

oi. 75 
Story Hour Method in, 

81 
Summers Method in, 63 
Ward Method in, 44 
Primer, content of, 83 
development of, 82 
good characteristics of, 82 
illustrations for, 86 
mechanics of, 87 
Print or script at beginning, 

46, 53 
Progressive Road to Read- 
ing, 75 
Pronunciation, definition of, 

145 
correction of, 117, 119 
Psychological considerations 
for postponing read- 
ing, 27 

Quantz, on rate in reading, 

20 
Questions, in intensive read- 
ing, 189 
in tests, 203 

Rate in reading, experi- 
ments in, 19 
relation of, to thought, 18 



211 



INDEX 



Rate in reading, significance Reading, preparation of class 



of, for teaching, 22 
Readers, displacement of, in 

upper grades, 162 
illustrations for, 86 
Sec also Primary methods 
Reading, aims of, 32, 126, 

186 
in teaching of, I 
apperception in, 129, 174 
association in, 46, 53 
blackboard in, 49 
content aim of, 32 
correction in, 149 
criticism of, 149 
derivation of word in, i 
dramatization in, 147, 189, 

198, 199 
elaboration in, 150 
emotional preparation in, 

132, 172 
expression in, 146, 150 
extensive, 154 
eye movement in, 7 
formal aims of, 32 
generalization in, 152 
inner speech in, 17 
intensive, 136, 181 
intermediary, 125 
lip movement in, 17 
literary appreciation in, 3 
optic fatigue in, 11 
oral vs. silent, 139 
place of oral. See Oral 

reading 



for, 128 

preparation of teacher for, 
129 

primary methods of. See 
Primary reading 

primers. See Primer 

print or script at begin- 
ning, 46, 53 

problems involved, 4 

procedure of, in interme- 
diary grades, 135 

to pupils, 89 

rate and thought in, 18 

silent, 137 

speed in, 19 

thought acquisition in, i, 2 

use of selection as a whole 
in, 136 

when to begin, 27 
Reading lists. See Bibliog- 
raphy, Chap. VII 
Reeder, R. R., 100 
Re-reading of lesson, 153 
Re-reading of pupils' assign- 
ments, 150 
Rousseau, 39 

St. John, Ed. P., loi 

Scripture, E. W., 124 

Second reading of master- 
piece. See Intensive 
study 

Sentence Method, 36, 48, 50, 
66, 70, 72, 



212 



INDEX 



Shaw, Ed. R., i6 

Shimer, Ettinger and Burch- 

ill, 75 

Silent reading, 137 

Social considerations for 
postponing reading, 29 

Social spirit in reading les- 
son, 141, 143 

Sonnets, 104 

Sounds classified, 104 

Spalding and Bryce, 66 

Speech, analysis, of, 103 
defects in, 123 
organs of, 103 

Spelling in reading methods, 

47 
Spencer, 22 
Standard for judging oral 

reading, 142 
Standardization of books, 16 
Stories to tell, 100 
Story Method, ^6, 51, 66, 75 
Story hour readers, 81, 123 
Story telling, 92 
Subject matter of readers, 82 
Subtonics, 104 
Summers Method, 63 



Surds, 104 
Sweet, Henry, 124 

Taylor, J. S., 16, 26, 35, 57, 

158 

Teachers' College Record, 57 

Third reading of master- 
piece, misapplication 
of, 197 
substitutes for, 198 

Thought acquisition in read- 
ing, I 

Transition from print to 
script and vice versa, 

45, 53 
Type, size of, 13 

Versification, 196 
Voice, 144 

Vostrovsky, Clara, loi 
Vowels, 104, 106 

Ward, E. G., 44 
Ward Rational Method, 44 
Word Method, 36, 44, 61 
Writing in reading methods, 
47, 56 



CO 



